Cattle drive tips hat to Fla. ranching history
ST. CLOUD — As Carl Sharp bounced in the back of a horse-drawn wagon, the 92-year-old cowboy poet looked at the landscape and back in time to explain the role of ranchers in Florida history."This was wild and desolate country," he said. "If it hadn't been for them, there wouldn't be a Florida."
The wagon was traveling through ranches south of St. Cloud as part of the Great Florida Cattle Drive. About 400 participants and around the same number of cattle covered 50 miles over five days, ending today in Kenansville with a celebration of ranching culture, including Sharp and other cowboy poets and historians.
The event recreated a historic cattle drive, with participants riding on horses and wagons, wearing period dress and camping each night along the way. As development makes ranching more difficult in the state, the event reminds people of its important role, said Lynn Yarborough, part of a Seminole County ranching family.
"It's so you know what Florida is about — and it's not beaches and Cape Kennedy" she said.
While most people associate ranching with Western cowboys, Florida cowhunters have their own rich history, said Robert Stone of the Florida Folklife Program. Ranchers in the state call themselves cowhunters to describe their ability to hunt for cattle in dense vegetation.
Florida cowhunters differ from their Western counterparts in using the crack of a whip to drive cattle, which Stone said was a popular but not necessarily accurate explanation for the origin of the term "cracker." Florida cowhunters are also unique in their use of dogs to drive cattle out of thick brush.
"There's a saying that a good dog is worth three men," he said.
Only the head cowhunter on the Great Florida Cattle Drive was able to bring his dogs along for the trip. Other experienced hands — the best of the best from each county — helped guide the cattle, which were borrowed from rodeo events.
The remainder of the participants were left to navigate their horses and wagons through sometimes rough terrain. Linda Ballantine Brown, whose family has a farm in Williston, said she enjoyed watching her six children learn to rely on their horses.
"You really see the kids get one with their horses and that's what's really cool," she said.
Chris Machen, wife of University of Florida President Bernie Machen, said she was impressed by the number of people and horses gathered in one place. Riding her own horse on the drive, she said she loved exploring beautiful ranch lands dotted with palmetto patches and oak hammocks.
"It's once in a lifetime," she said.
Some participants took part in the first Great Florida Cattle Drive in 1995. But many in this year's drive doubted there would be a third event in another decade, due to the loss of ranch lands to urban development.
Marcus Mitchell of Trenton said ranchers can either sell their land or face rising property taxes as those around them do. He pointed to Levy County, where he said his in-laws were experiencing such an effect.
"It's more or less driving them out of there," he said.
Flagler County resident C.D. Wall said he doesn't begrudge ranchers who give up the hard work and sell their land. The 71-year-old said he grew up on a South Georgia farm without electricity and appreciates some progress, but hopes it can be balanced with the preservation of rural land.
"Progress is ruining us in a way," he said.
Sharp was even more blunt, calling real estate agents "dirt peddlers" and placing them with politicians and the media as banes of society. He said he was sure the Great Florida Cattle Drive would join the drives it recreates as a relic in history.
"I have dreams for tomorrow, but I have respect for yesteryear and it's gone," he said.
Nathan Crabbe can be reached at 352-338-3176 or crabben@gvillesun.com.
House moves to open Gulf area to oil and gas drilling
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House approved oil and gas drilling Friday in a vast area of the Gulf of Mexico south of Florida's Panhandle and agreed to steer hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty payments to Gulf states to restore coastal wetlands and repair hurricane damage.
The drilling provision was attached to a package of popular tax breaks that were approved by vote of 367-45 as lawmakers scrambled to adjourn and end of the 109th Congress.
The tax legislation, including the drilling provision, was expected to be combined with a trade bill and then sent to the Senate in hopes of prompt approval - assuming last-minute roadblocks can be avoided in the Senate. It wasn't clear late Friday when the Senate might take up the legislation.
The House bill opens to energy companies 8.3 million acres in the east-central Gulf of Mexico that is currently off-limits to drilling. The Interior Department is required to issue its first leases for the area within a year and tap what is believed to be 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The country uses about 21 million barrels of oil a day. The gas believed in the area would be enough to heat 6 million homes for 15 years.
Supporters of the measure, including Gov. Jeb Bush, said it was good for Florida because it provided a certain protection for the state, creating a buffer that guarantees drilling won't occur within 125 miles of the coast.
That will prevent closer-in drilling in the future, Bush said.
"It's better to have that kind of permanency than have a change in policy in the out years," Bush told reporters. "I would be supportive of that."
U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers, also said some protection was better than none.
"While I would have preferred a solution that empowered states like Florida to determine their own destiny on this important issue, today's legislation provides a sound solution that will protect our precious environment and our economy," Mack said in a statement.
Environmentalists were critical of the measure.
"The U.S. House has voted to give an early Christmas present to Big Oil and Florida gets a stocking stuffed with tar balls," Environment Florida director Mark Ferrulo said in a statement. "The give away of 8 million acres of waters directly off Florida's coast to the oil industry is bad news for anyone who cares about the health of our marine wildlife and coastal environment."
It was the revenue sharing provision that prompted the sharpest debate Friday.
It calls on the Interior Department to provide Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama with 37.5 percent of future royalties collected from Gulf oil production. Louisiana would get about half. The states' share is anticipated to be several hundred million a year initially, and grow into the billions of dollars a year after 2017 because of increased production and expansion of the royalty sharing to all Gulf production.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., called it "a raid on the federal Treasury" that could amount to as much as $170 billion over the next 50 years.
Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., said she could not understand funneling billions of dollars in royalties from oil and gas taken from federal waters to four states "when this country has record deficits as far as the eye can see."
The Gulf Coast states, which now get less than 2 percent of all the royalties collected from offshore production, have argued that new revenue sharing is long overdue.
For years "the Louisiana delegation has been asking for help and it's been like the tree falling in the woods, unheard," complained Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La.
An attempt by Markey to sidetrack the tax measure by adding an amendment that would have upended the delicate agreement with the Senate failed 207-205.
The royalty recovery effort has broad support in both the House and Senate.
But Rep. Bill Thomas, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said any change in the bill could undo the informal agreement reached with the Senate and kill any chance of getting the legislation through because of the time constraints before adjournment. Under Senate rules, a single senator can force considerable delay once a bill comes over from the House.
The new drilling area was crafted to gain support of Florida's lawmakers, with its eastern edge more than 200 miles from state beaches.
"This protects Florida," said Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla.
The drilling provision is identical to a bill passed by the Senate earlier this year. House GOP leaders had sought much broader offshore energy development that would have lifted drilling bans that have been in place as long as 25 years across 85 percent of the U.S. coastline, essentially everywhere except for the western Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska.
Senate leaders said the House measure couldn't pass the Senate. So, after suffering losses in last month's election, House GOP leaders accepted the Senate-passed bill that was limited to the Gulf region.---
The drilling measure is S 3711.
Warming trend?
Robert Bridges, Democrat ReporterIt's been a while since it's gotten as cold as it's
expected to be tonight. The National Weather Service says the last
cold snap to rival this one was in the winter of 2002-03. And the
last time it got really cold (not just by Florida standards) was
more than 20 years ago. On Jan. 21, 1985, the mercury hit six
degrees. The high that day was 29.
But bitter cold hasn't been the norm for the last few decades,
according to Marion Catalano of WQHL radio in Live Oak. Catalano is
the station's certified weather observer for the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration. She's been there since 1987, but the
station's records date to 1955.
"We're definitely in a warming trend," Catalano said.
"Just looking through our books since '55, there is a definite
increase in temperatures late in the year."
Catalano isn't a meteorologist and doesn't claim to have the
explanation for the trend. Is global warming affecting Live Oak?
Catalano didn't put it that way. But she said the local warming
trend is undeniable. "The winter months are definitely getting
warmer than they were in 1955," she said.
WEATHER
Curbs on water use likely this dry season
A quiet hurricane season and a dry fall left South Florida on the verge of a drought, which could prompt water managers to limit lawn watering and car washing.
BY MATTHEW I. PINZUR
mpinzur@MiamiHerald.com
Document | South Florida Water Management District's fact
sheetNo one wanted another active hurricane season in 2006, but South Florida's calm summer is having consequences. The lack of serious rain has left the region on the verge of a drought, and water managers could begin imposing mandatory restrictions next month on lawn watering and car washing.
Regulators already have issued a water-shortage warning from Palm Beach County to Monroe County and asked residents to cut back voluntarily.
Additional restrictions are likely for Broward, County Commissioner Suzanne Gunzburger said.
''We don't know when this is going to have to go into effect,'' she said. ``It will depend on how much rain we get this winter.''
Ordinary consumers can help with common-sense conservation: limit showers to five minutes; turn off the faucet while shaving and brushing teeth; don't run the hose constantly while washing cars.
Water managers are scheduled to meet next week in West Palm Beach to decide whether to impose restrictions in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Restrictions are difficult to enforce, though, because utilities cannot simply cut off water supplies to particular neighborhoods or addresses.
''It is the honor system, but we have to have a bit of conscience in this community,'' said Ana María Monte Flores, outreach coordinator for the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department.
Rainfall has been 22 percent below average this year in Broward (where it has been nearly 17 inches under the norm), 16 percent below average in Miami-Dade and 33 percent below average in Palm Beach County, according to the district.
STARTED EARLY
This year's dry season started earlier than usual, according to National Weather Service forecaster Gordon Strassberg, and weather patterns have not shifted to suggest any changes this month.
But a strengthening El Niño in the Pacific could bring some extra rain in the winter -- sustained, widespread storms instead of the spotty squalls that haunt the summer.
Such storms could help recharge Lake Okeechobee, South Florida's secondary water source after the Biscayne Aquifer, and is critical during the winter dry season.
THREE FEET SHORT
The lake is more than three feet below its normal level, prompting mandatory restrictions in parts of Hendry, Glades, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, Lee and Martin counties: Car washing and lawn watering are limited to twice a week in four-hour early-morning windows, and commercial users have been forced to cut consumption by 15 percent.
Mandatory restrictions in South Florida would be the first since 2001 -- a decision that would reverberate from small carwashes to massive agribusiness.
Restrictions can affect businesses across the region and are an especially grave concern for South Dade's agricultural interests.
BAD FOR BUSINESS
''Homeowners freak out, think there's no water, and they stop planting,'' said Bobby Lee, president and owner of Superior Foliage Inc. near Homestead. When demand drops, so do his sales. The plants need to be watered -- just in his fields instead of in customers' lawns.
Lee said watering restrictions sometimes backfire, prompting homeowners and businesses to use more water.
''It's like telling you when you can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner,'' he said. ``If you're not hungry at breakfast time but you know lunch isn't till 1, you're going to eat anyway.''
The restrictions can actually help commercial carwashes in the short term.
The first round of water restrictions is usually limited to homes, which drives up business at places such as The Car Wash in Coconut Grove. But general manager Rudy Capi said more drastic rules can limit the hours he can stay open.
''It would definitely put us in a bad situation if they put restrictions on us,'' he said.
The immediate rules will likely be less draconian than those used during the 2001 dry season, according to Nicolas Gutierrez, a member of the water management district's governing board.
VIOLATORS FINED
That year, the worst part of a four-year drought, fountains were shut down, pressure-cleaning boats and driveways was prohibited, and restaurants served water on only request. Across the region, violators were fined $430,000.
The current situation is not as precarious.
''We may just need heightened voluntary restrictions,'' Gutierrez said.
The broader issue, he said, is persuading government and businesses to do more to conserve and recycle water.
Parties are close to an agreement on spray field
Tallahassee, Wakulla County and environmentalists seem to be moving toward an agreement on the city's wastewater spray field.
The Florida Wildlife Federation and Wakulla County filed challenges in March against a proposed state permit allowing almost 31 million gallons of treated wastewater to be sprayed daily on crops at the city's Southeast Farm.
Scientists say nitrogen from the 20 million gallons sprayed now is likely seeping into the aquifer and coming out at Wakulla Springs. There, the nitrogen feeds aquatic weeds and algae that are choking the state park swimming area.
Wakulla County Commission Ed Brimner said this morning that the commission is scheduled to discuss a possible permit agreement on Dec. 18.
"I will say I am very, very optimistic that very positive things are going to happen with the spray field," Brimner said.
City officials did not return phone calls on Friday. Mayor John Marks last week said the parties were meeting to work out an agreement.
"It's going to be settled," Marks said. He declined to elaborate because a judge has ordered mediation the case.
Manley Fuller, Florida Wildlife Federation president, said "significant progress" had been made but he declined to elaborate because of the mediation.
Joe Glisson of Ochlockonee Bay also filed legal challenges. Attorney General Charlie Crist intervened on behalf of the challengers.
A Crist spokeswoman said the Attorney General's Office is still optimistic but there is nothing new to report.
Alafia River Board OK's Funds for StudyThe Alafia River Basin Board agreed Thursday to amend its budget to include funds to pay $146,000 toward a $292,000 study. Polk County will pay the other half.
The issue involves a six-square-mile watershed running from the Christina area to just north of Mulberry and including portions of the west side of the city. The drainage basin is part of the headwaters of the North Prong of the Alafia River.
The Christina watershed is one of 15 watersheds in Polk County that do not have evaluation or management plans, according to a Southwest Florida Water Management District staff report, which recommended approval of the funds.
Jeff Spence, Polk's natural resources director, said county officials proposed the project a couple years ago but could not come up with the matching funds.
The matching funds are now available as a result of a decision by county commissioners to set aside part of the receipts from the county's public service tax to deal with drainage issues.
Spence said one of the challenges in coming up with a plan is that the land in the watershed involves a number of subdivisions, each with its own drainage system.
He said he didn't want to do anything without looking at the entire system to avoid simply shifting the problem.
Spence said the work will include looking at whether the drainage pipes are the right size, considering whether there's a better way to manage the water and devising a comprehensive plan.
The evaluation is expected to take four months. The plan will take a year, Swiftmud officials said.
Implementing the study's recommendations will require additional funding.
Spence said until the study is completed he has no idea what the price tag will be.
"It could be $100,000 or it could be $10 million," he said.
Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@theledger.com.
With lawsuits looming, city and county to meet
By TONY MARREROlmarrero@hernandotoday.com
The Brooksville City Council and the Hernando County Commission, along with planning staff on both sides, will sit down next week to hash out planning concerns that sparked the county to threaten two lawsuits against the city.
The two bodies will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the county commission chambers of the county courthouse, 20 N. Main St., Brooksville. The public is invited.
The main topic of discussion will be Brooksville’s recent annexation of two parcels, totaling some 900 acres near the southern edge of the city limits.
County officials say the city should have held off on taking action on the voluntary annexations until staff on both sides could properly plan for the potential impact that future development on the site could have on roads and other infrastructure.
The city has maintained that those discussions can come after the annexations. The city council approved the annexations Nov. 20 despite the threat of a lawsuit.
Three of the four county commissioners, at their regular meeting Tuesday, were ready to give the legal department the go-ahead to file the placeholder lawsuit against the city.
But Brooksville Mayor David Pugh showed up and asked the commission to hold off on filing the suit so he could go back to fellow council members to come up with a time to meet.
The county has 30 days from the date the city approved the annexation to file a suit. A placeholder suit reserves the right to sue, but the county can choose whether or not to serve the suit.
Officials also hope to resolve another matter that has already resulted in the county filing just such a placeholder lawsuit against the city.
The city recently approved an amendment to its comprehensive plan that could allow up to 999 residential units and 100,000 square feet of commercial space at Majestic Oaks, a development on Mondon Hill Road.
County officials say that is too many homes. The density, they say, would overwhelm Mondon Hill and other local roads.
City officials say the plan amendment only sets the maximum density that the developer could request.
Reporter Tony Marrero can be contacted at 352-544-5286.
Contentious project to be decided by new commission
Nicole King
Staff Writer
EUSTIS - Amid a round of applause, Eustis City Commissioners approved a resolution to postpone a vote on The Meadows subdivision. The Meadows is nearly 604 acres and has 1,990 lots.
Mayor Jonnie Hale introduced the resolution, saying she didn't want outgoing commissioners Gwen Manning and Frank Royce to go out amid criticism.
"I just feel it should go to the next people and let the new people work on it," Hale said. "They've been hardworking and dedicated commissioners, and it would have looked bad on them if it had passed. I just didn't think it was fair."
The commission will take up the issue at its Jan. 2 meeting, during which newly elected commissioners Scott Ales and Karen LeHeup-Smith will be seated.
The Meadows is planned to be built in three phases. The developer's plans call for construction to be spread out over a
15-year period. The density is to average no more than three units per acre with a mix of housing including single-family homes, townhouses, duplexes and condos. If approved, the subdivision would become the biggest in the city.
The land, which is along the north side of County Road 44-A in the Clear Lake area, is owned by Orlando-based John Kingman Keating and John F. Ballard, who are being represented by Green Consulting Group Inc.
The Meadows has been widely contested by residents.
"The postponement is probably the right thing. I just moved to Eustis from Orlando," Debbie Houben said. "I'm totally against it. I came up from Orlando, so I know what will happen if they don't keep an eye on growth."
Marie Baker has been a Eustis resident for more than 42 years. She and a large group of residents attended the meeting to voice their opposition.
"It's the best Christmas present I ever could have gotten. We'll keep on top of it," Baker said. "We'll be back in January and hopefully, the developer will realize that maybe we're rural, but we care about our community. I don't want it to be like Altamonte. A lot of people are moving here because they like the rural character, and if we keep building, we'll lose that."
In other business, the Eustis City Commission voted to cancel the regularly scheduled meeting for Dec. 21. The meeting was canceled because its nearness to the holidays might have made attending problematic for city staff and residents.
Judge denies bid of former Scouts for camp
BY CHRISTOPHER O'DONNELL
In a ruling issued Tuesday, Circuit Judge Durand J. Adams said that too much time had passed since the camp was given to the Scouts council to dispute ownership of the camp.
Several former Scouts filed the suit as the Manatee County Boys Development Association -- the group that founded the camp in 1929 -- to stop it from being sold to developers. The association had asked the judge to cancel the deed that gave the camp to the Southwest Florida Boy Scouts Council in 1991.
"We're pleased with the judge's ruling," said Kevin Hennessy, attorney for the Scouts council. "It certainly dispels any dispute that some people might have had in their mind that the Boy Scouts Council are not the rightful owner of the property."
But the ruling was not a complete victory for the Scouts council. The judge denied its request for a ruling that it can sell Camp Flying Eagle for development without violating a provision of the donation that the land be used for Scouting and youth activities. The decision means the case is likely to go to trial. No date has been set yet.
"The order doesn't really do any damage to the Development Association's lawsuit going forward," said John Harllee, the attorney for the association.
Having hosted Scout retreats for more than 75 years, Camp Flying Eagle is almost sacred ground for generations of Manatee Scouts. But some council members say encroaching development means it is no longer the best place for a wilderness experience. In 2005, a developer offered $12 million for the camp.
Even if the judge rules in the Scout council's favor, it would likely not be able to sell the camp because of a decision by Manatee County to restrict the camp to recreation. The Scouts council has filed a petition with the state seeking to overturn that decision. It has been joined in that dispute by the Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida, whose Camp Honi Hanta was also affected by the county's ruling.
City keeps at mobile home park
By LORRI HELFAND, Times Staff Writer
Published December 9, 2006
LARGO - The battle between a Clearwater-Largo Road mobile home park and the city moved ahead on several fronts this week as the city's code enforcement board filed a report concluding that 13 homes at the park are unsafe.
Both sides have fought over code enforcement and jurisdictional issues since July, when city inspectors tagged more than a dozen mobile homes as uninhabitable.
The board's report came in response to an appeal by park owner Key Largo Communities Corp. Its recommendation will be forwarded to the City Commission, which will consider the matter Jan. 2.
If commissioners concur, the owner of the park, 1760 Clearwater-Largo Road, will have 90 days to remove the homes or fix them according to mobile home repair codes, city building official Mike Sizemore said.
Owner Andrea Trani said the city is targeting only her park - formerly called Sunpiper but now, in protest, called No Go Largo Village - because it was illegally annexed and stands in the way of the city's redevelopment efforts.
"They're beating up on us," said Trani, 56. "It's about a turf war. It's that we're in the wrong spot."
Sizemore said the issue is not about turf but about safety.
"The conditions out there are absolutely deplorable," he said.
City officials said a July inspection showed a slew of violations, including exposed electrical wiring, sewage leaks, tenants in homes without electricity, extension cords running from one unit to another, unpermitted construction, work without asbestos remediation, rental units missing hurricane tie-downs, holes in floors and exterior walls, blocked fire rescue exits, and missing smoke detectors.
More recently, friction with the city arose over a sign erected on the property displaying the park's new name. Officials said the park owner didn't apply for a permit to paint and install it.
On Thursday, the code enforcement board fined the park owner $50 a day for putting up the sign without a permit and $150 a day for installing water meters without permits. The fines are scheduled to begin Friday and will continue until the owner comes into compliance.
The park owner said it repainted an old sign and installed it because the fire marshal suggested that the park put up a sign with its name and address on it.
Largo Fire Marshal Jim Warman said Friday that his department generally directs businesses to post their address, not install signs with the name on them.
"Any signage would have to meet community development rules," he said.
During the hearing Thursday, the owner's attorney, Brian Battaglia, objected to the proceedings at least six times, saying the city didn't have jurisdiction in the matter.
In response, the board said repeatedly that it wasn't going to rule on jurisdictional issues.
Last month, the park owner filed a lawsuit in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court challenging the June 2005 annexation of the park.
The crux of Key Largo Communities' argument centers on property ownership.
The property has had three owners in recent years. R2 Property Co. owned the park until June 29. That was when it conveyed the park to a company represented by Patrick Byrne. The same day, Byrne deeded it to Key Largo Communities.
The current owner said it bought the park and nearby Braginton Mobile Home Park for about $2.6-million.
Byrne signed an annexation petition in March 2005, more than a year before he purchased the property.
Seven months after the annexation, an attorney representing R2 Property informed officials that Byrne, who had a contract to buy the property, didn't have the authority to okay the annexation.
Largo recently argued in court that R2 Property never legally challenged the annexation and that once Byrne's company took ownership, Key Largo Communities' argument about ownership became moot.
The park's dispute with Largo goes back to July 26, when the city issued more than 30 violation notices. The park owner denied access to units, but officials said they were able to observe violations from examining the outside of units and viewing the inside through windows.
The city obtained a search warrant to enter homes and inspected the property again Aug. 8. That inspection found 150 moderate to serious violations in 13 rental units and other structures, officials said.
Trani said when she first bought the property, she was eager to get along with the city, calling her company Key Largo Communities for that reason.
The company was going to paint all of the mobile homes pastel colors and plant flowers, she said. It later planned to develop it.
But the city didn't play fair, she said.
And Trani's partner, Helene Provenzano, said she will continue to buck the city until a court rules otherwise.
"I'm not cooperating with Largo until a judge tells me I'm in Largo," said Provenzano, 43.
Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. Lorri Helfand can be reached at 727 445-4155 or lorri@sptimes.com.
County Retains Land-Use Firm
Published: Dec 9, 2006
DADE CITY - County leaders have agreed to pay their planning consultant additional $135,000 to review nine comprehensive growth plan amendments in coming months.
Commissioners unanimously approved the contract this week but urged County Administrator John Gallagher to hire a permanent plan reviewer. Comprehensive plan amendments typically involve significant land-use changes and require technical analysis by county and usually state officials.
Commissioner Michael Cox, the board's newest member, suggested paying a new planner as much as $100,000 a year - which is higher than any other salary in the department, including Growth Manager Sam Steffey's.
Gallagher told commissioners he's had trouble hiring qualified applicants for several planning positions, even after raising salaries significantly.
Cox asked whether commissioners should expect to retain Orlando-based Gladding Jackson Kercher Anglin Lopez Rinehart Inc. twice each year for more than $100,000 for similar services.
Consultant Frances Chandler Marino said her firm, which in the past few years has helped the county amend its long-range growth plan, considers the latest contract part of a transition from the old way to a new approach.
The county should find a staff planner, she said, although many of her clients in nearby cities and counties are having similar difficulty finding such professionals.
About five Gladding Jackson staff members will review the comprehensive plan amendments along with Pasco staff, Marino said.
"In our opinion, it is temporary for Gladding Jackson to participate," she said. "It's challenging and difficult to hire people right now, but it really needs to be handled in-house. It's definitely not a long-term solution."
The county raised wages for planners by more than 20 percent after a salary study, Personnel Director Barbara De Simone said. A midlevel Planner II used to have a pay range of $35,963 to $58,567. That position now pays between $43,614 and $74,039.
Steffey, the department head, has worked for the county since 1978 and is paid $96,800 per year.
In addition to salaries, the county must provide benefits to employees, which amount to an additional 42.56 percent of each salary, De Simone said. So hiring a Planner II at the top of the pay scale would cost about $90,000 per year.
De Simone said the higher salaries are attracting more candidates, and the county has conducted interviews for four vacant planning positions.
"We're making a little headway," she said. "We have had some good interviews."
Higher salaries for utility plant operators also have attracted more candidates, De Simone said. The county could have 10 new positions and several other vacancies filled before year's end. A slower building market also is bringing more candidates to government jobs.
Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.
Regional light rail back on track
CHUIN-WEI YAPPublished December 9, 2006
An old idea is finding new life in central Pasco, as a regional commuter network becomes the latest buzz among transportation planners.
In the last two months, the idea of using CSX Corp.'s central Pasco freight line for regional mass transit has resurfaced in ongoing talks between the Tampa Bay Partnership and CSX, said Dewey Mitchell, a past chairman of the partnership involved in the talks.
The idea was last floated in the early 1990s, as part of a regional proposal that petered out for lack of a critical mass of population.
But now, development in Pasco is helping to fuel a sense of urgency for mass transit, and regional officials are pinpointing areas for potential commuter rail lines in the future.
"The key is setting aside the corridors and making these corridors available; the corridors are rapidly closing," Mitchell said.
The Florida Department of Transportation is helping the partnership identify corridor possibilities, Mitchell said. Bob Clifford, DOT's planning manager, was unavailable Friday for comment.
The partnership is now working to identify corridors where rights-of-way need to be set aside, Mitchell said.
In Pasco, the right-of-way corridors identified are the major north-south thoroughfares of U.S. 19, the Suncoast Parkway, Interstate 75, the rail line hugging U.S. 41, and along power lines.
They also include the east-west routes of state roads 54 and 52.
"There has been a dialogue with CSX at the conceptual stage," Mitchell said. "We didn't get specific ... It's possible the existing rail line could be utilized, or the existing right-of-way (next to the rail line) could be utilized."
Meg Sacks, CSX's spokeswoman for Florida, did not reply to a call for comment Friday.
In Pasco, CSX has a freight rail line threading through Lutz and Land O'Lakes; the line starts in Tampa's port and currently dead-ends just northwest of Brooksville.
* * *
The current round of talks lays the groundwork for a proposed regional transit authority, armed with public spending powers.
The partnership, a non-profit regional marketing agency, would pass the baton to that authority, Mitchell said.
A bill to create a regional authority is working its way through the Legislature; supporters hope it will be passed in the spring.
State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who is steering the bill through the Senate, said the bill would give the authority the power to issue bonds and spend tax dollars.
There has not yet been a cost estimate for the current regional mass transit proposal, but the idea is to have a network stretching across Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Polk, Pinellas, Hillsborough and Sarasota counties, with park-and-ride stations dotting rail lines, Mitchell said.
Proponents of mass transit say a regional authority is key, to iron out different preferences among counties. For example, Pinellas desires an elevated monorail, but Hillsborough wants light rail that runs on the ground, said Tim Hayes, a Land O'Lakes attorney and a former member of the defunct Tampa Bay Commuter Rail Authority.
Today, there is no consensus yet on the type of rail system that would be used, Mitchell said.
* * *
The challenge would lie in making commuter rail worth taxpayers' while.
In the past, mass transit proposals in the Tampa Bay area have died because there were not enough people to justify such proposals.
Downtown Tampa in the early 1990s, for example, only had a working population of about 30,000, not enough to generate enough of an urban core around which to build a mass transit network, Hayes said.
But things have changed.
Population in the Tampa Bay area has grown swiftly. Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater currently are home to 2.6-million people.
Between 1990 and 2005, Pasco's population has jumped from 281,131 to 429,065, according to the U.S. Census. Tampa also now has major urban attractions that could form an urban core, Hayes said.
The Tampa Bay Partnership is modeling its mass transit hopes on comparable systems in cities like Denver; Salt Lake City; Dallas; and Washington D.C., Mitchell said.
But the Tampa Bay area's urban landscape is also a lot more sprawling than these cities, which makes it less conducive to a mass transit system, because that sprawl would drive up the cost of a rail-based network.
The question that confronts the as-yet-unborn authority is: Will the Tampa Bay area's growth support the high investment cost of mass transit?
"If government has to subsidize this, have we really solved anything, apart from pollution and things like that?" Hayes asked. "If you have to drive more than 10 miles to get to the station, it won't make sense. People will just drive to their destination instead."
Researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this article. Chuin-Wei Yap covers growth and development. He can be reached at (813)909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.
Venice and county close to agreement
On Friday, city and county leaders agreed on how long the contract will last, clearing what had been a major hurdle in their joint planning talks. With only small details left to hammer out, Venice and the county are virtually ensured a document that both sides can vote into effect by the Jan. 4 deadline.
The Sarasota County commissioners had pushed for a joint planning agreement that would be in effect until at least 2050, but backed off that demand Friday, clearing the way for agreement with Venice.
"I think 25 years ... is the lifetime as far as land-use determinations go," said Sarasota County Commissioner Jon Thaxton.
The Venice-county agreement defines future annexation areas and would protect the city from any countywide charter amendment that would give the county veto power over building densities in annexed areas. The threat of such a charter amendment brought Venice and North Port to the bargaining table in September with the county, which has long criticized the two cities for their rapid growth.
Other features of the Venice agreement include defining who will be responsible for basic infrastructure and services such as water, sewer and trash collection in joint planning areas.
North Port deal not close
While Venice and the county appear to be close to an agreement, the same cannot be said for county negotiations with North Port, a city that continues to spar with the county on issues ranging from where the city might annex in the future to who will pay for the massive infrastructure and service needs in this fast-growing city.
Whether both sides will agree to the details regarding where annexations can take place and where the two governments will collaborate on planning remains to be seen.
County commissioners have been cold on North Port growing at all. The city already stands at a whopping 103 square miles, and many of the areas that border the city are environmentally sensitive or rural land.
"While cities tend not to be the custodians of rural lands, counties are," County Commissioner Nora Patterson said.
$3 Million Powerboat Races To Boost Alternative Fuels
Published: Dec. 08, 2006
Pete Bethune has a wave-piercing, $3 million dollar powerboat that looks like something dreamed up by Jules Verne.
In sailing it from his native Auckland, New Zealand, to Tampa Bay he has been mistakenly attacked by the Colombian Navy, driven it through 40-foot storm waves and fished off remote reefs.
But the real adventure aboard Earthrace begins March 6, when captain Bethune and three other crew members begin a journey they hope breaks the World Powerboat Authority speed record for circumnavigating the globe in a powerboat.
They plan to chase the 75-day mark achieved by the British boat Cable & Wireless in 1998 in a tri-hulled vessel powered by biodiesel. Bethune is racing more to bring awareness to renewable fuels than anything else. "The record's just a way to give the boat mana," said Bethune, 41. "That's a word the Maori people of New Zealand use to mean profile or prestige." Earthrace will be docked today and Sunday at the Tampa Convention Center.
The boat's skipper and owner formerly worked in oil exploration for Schlumberger Oilfield Services.
I"I swam on the dark side and the force was strong," Bethune said. "I understand the oil industry and its limitations … It solidified my beliefs on the need for biodiesel and ethanols." Bethune raised and borrowed money to build Earthrace while radically altering life for him, his wife and boat co-owner, Sharyn, and their two young daughters. "But we're lucky to follow something we believe in so passionately," Bethune said. "This is sweet, mate."
He glanced across the basin at the boat Wednesday afternoon from a wooden bench in Straub Park in St. Petersburg. Earthrace was moored there part of the week and attracted plenty of cell phone photographers and curiosity-seekers, including a pair of divers in wet suits who volunteered to inspect the hull. "It's a very cool-looking boat with universal appeal," Bethune said. "It doesn't matter where you go, mate, it will attract a crowd." Even in the waters 150 miles off of Nicaragua.
"We were shot at there by the Colombian Navy," Bethune said. "We thought they were a random pirate boat, and after they boarded the boat, they said they took us for drug runners." Houston is their next stop on a promotional tour leading up to the two-month race. Bethune's goal is a 65-day record.
Cinematographer Ryan Heron is capturing it all on film for a documentary Bethune said could air in the United States on the Discovery Channel. Film blogs can be viewed at www.earthrace.net, and the Columbian Navy encounter is the conclusion of Blog 31. The voyage that will begin and end in Barbados while passing through the Panama Canal will cover 24,000 nautical miles. They will make 12 stops to refuel in ports such as Acapulco and San Diego. "This has been a very unusual existence and I'm running the risk of hardly knowing my children," Bethune said.
He pursed his lips, squinted into the sunlight beyond Earthrace, and said, "But this is an adventure, mate."
Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com. Keyword: Earthrace, to see a detailed graphic of the biodiesel-burning trimaran boat.
Interest-free insurance loans available
TIMES WIRESPublished December 9, 2006
Pasco County is taking applications until Dec. 22 for its noninterest loan program to help low- income residents pay their insurance premiums. Homeowners can receive up to $5,000. The program targets people who are disabled or age 62 or older, and they must have homes assessed at $120,000 or less. So far, about 25 to 30 people have applied, said George Romagnoli, community development manager. For information, call (727) 834-3445 in west Pasco; (813) 996-7341, ext. 3445 in central Pasco; or (352) 521-4274, ext. 3445, in east Pasco.
Connerton takes 3 builder awards
Connerton won three awards from the Tampa Bay Builders Association last month. The awards were for Best Developer Brochure, Best Developer Web site and Best Developer 4 Color Ad. The 4,800-acre new town is still under construction and eventually will have 8,500 homes and more than 3-million square feet of commercial space.
Lobbyist had help in deal for land
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 09, 2006
WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Beach County managers steered a public land sale to a politically powerful lawyer now accused of conspiring with former County Commissioner Tony Masilotti, a deal that was scuttled after federal authorities opened their investigation of the two men.
William R. Boose III, a county lobbyist charged last month in Masilotti's corruption case, was first in line to get the county-owned land - 10 acres off Lake Worth Road known as the "Pike" property - when he and partner Herb Kahlert yanked their bid, records show. Their withdrawal, on June 6, came weeks after a federal grand jury began pursuing published reports that Boose had helped conceal Masilotti's profit from a land deal in Martin County.
Before Boose and Kahlert withdrew, a series of decisions by county real estate managers had positioned the partners to win the Pike parcel, records show:
• After a private meeting with the two partners, county administrators in June 2005 tossed aside the first offers on the property and reopened the bidding for Boose and Kahlert. They also changed the rules for the deal, allowing the partners to propose a land swap instead of the all-cash offers previously required.
• After the new bids were opened in July 2005, county property managers valued the land-and-cash package offered by Boose and Kahlert at $2.2 million, at least $500,000 more than the men paid for the land, real estate records show - giving the partners a leading edge. Instead of getting an appraisal - a standard county practice - the county manager who evaluated the package said he made an educated guess of its value after consulting with Boose.
• When a $3 million all-cash offer trumped the partners' $2.2 million package, managers delayed the award, saying the bids were complex and needed more analysis. After three months, the high bidder withdrew its offer in October 2005 - putting Boose and Kahlert on top.
County stalled on site
Centennial Real Estate Investors, a company that had offered $2 million, became the highest bidder after Boose and Kahlert backed out in June. But managers continued to stall, this time saying the county now wanted to build "workforce" housing on the property.
Centennial sued in October, accusing the county of "an ongoing, blatant, dishonest course of fraudulent conduct." The county has denied any wrongdoing and maintains politics had nothing to do with it.
The real estate auction was handled by the county's Property and Real Estate Management Division, a unit criticized for its handling of another land sale that was cited in Masilotti's criminal case. Masilotti, who has said he will plead guilty to a federal corruption charge, allegedly helped a friend acquire the property and win county development approvals while failing to disclose that he had accepted free gambling trips from his pal.
Boose had no involvement in that deal. He is accused of helping conceal Masilotti's $1.3 million profit from a 2003 government land acquisition in Martin County. When FBI agents started asking questions this past spring, Boose allegedly lied and falsified legal bills to disguise the fact he didn't charge Masilotti full price for legal services. He had worked on Masilotti's deal while lobbying the county commission for developer clients. His business relationship with the commissioner never was disclosed, the grand jury reported.
Boose pleaded not guilty this week, but a court hearing to change his plea is scheduled Thursday. If convicted, he faces a maximum three-year prison sentence and $250,000 fine. Boose did not return messages left with his lawyers and at his office.
Well-connected in political circles, Boose in the 1970s worked as an assistant county attorney and later as the county's first planning director. While a public servant, he worked closely with Kahlert, then the county's chief engineer. Kahlert resigned in 1991 after it came to light that his family's real estate investments had benefited from road-building decisions made by his department. Kahlert did not return messages left at his office.
Properties packaged
Kahlert owned property in the northwest corner of the county that for years had been sought by the county for hiking and horse-riding trails stretching from Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic Ocean. Until June 2005, he and other landowners along the trail route had been unwilling to sell.
Boose, through a limited liability company, acquired purchase options on property along the route, then packaged it with the property owned by Kahlert and a secret land trust. On June 20, 2005, they met with county Environmental Resources Management Director Richard Walesky and his staff to pitch the land swap.
Hours earlier, Kahlert met with County Commissioner Karen Marcus, who is so close to Boose and Kahlert that she notes their birthdays in her commission calendar. Marcus said the meeting had nothing to do with the land swap. She said she recalled it concerned another property Kahlert owned near Boynton Beach.
Marcus referred questions to Commissioner Jeff Koons, who for years has pushed for the hiking trails. The Pike property also is in his commission district. But Koons said he was out of the loop. "I don't think I ever talked to Kahlert or Boose," he said. "I let staff handle it."
Walesky said he liked the proposal, but making it happen was complicated. The Pike property had been advertised for cash bids that May, and the deadline for submitting offers was June 22 at 2 p.m. - precisely 48 hours after his meeting with Boose and Kahlert. Two other county agencies - the Water Utilities Department, which owns the Pike parcel, and the Property and Real Estate Management Division, which was handling the sale - quickly would have to agree to cancel the bidding and rewrite the sale requirements to allow the swap.
Water Utilities Director Bevin Beaudet agreed, as did real estate division Director Ross Hering. Like Walesky, both Beaudet and Hering said that swapping the land for hiking trails appeared to be in the county's best interest.
"I don't remember speaking to any commissioner about it." Walesky said. "If there was any pressure, it was from Bill Boose."
Hering said that while he was willing to rebid the property, he wasn't happy about it. Out of town at the time, Hering wrote to his staff at 1:56 a.m. on June 22, directing them to alert bidders on the Pike property that their offers would be returned unopened. He also wrote to the boss of his department, Audrey Wolf, asking her to advise Walesky of the cancellation - "just so Rich cools his jets and doesn't create a further stink while I am gone. I'll deal with his a— upon my return."
"I was a little cranky about it," Hering said in an interview last month.
"Nice guy," Walesky said, when told about Hering's e-mail. "Apparently, he felt he was under some kind of pressure. Ross just felt he was in jeopardy because he was doing something unusual."
Quickly, the Pike property was put out again for bids, with a July 20 deadline for submittals. The top offers: $3 million from Poinciana Homes of Broward, $2 million from Centennial Real Estate Investors and the package from Boose and Kahlert - $600,000 plus 78 acres. They proposed building 48 homes on the Pike property, the same as Centennial. Poinciana wanted to build 37 homes.
Records show the 78 acres offered by the partners were owned or controlled by Kahlert, Port Mayaca Land, a company owned by Kahlert and Boose, and a secret land trust represented by Richard Crum - the office manager at Boose's law firm who also figures in the Masilotti corruption case.
Crum represented the trust that helped conceal Masilotti's profit from his Martin County land deal. Crum resigned from that position shortly after the Masilotti investigation was launched. In bid documents submitted to Palm Beach County, Kahlert and Boose did not disclose who Crum represented in the Pike land deal.
Deal valued at $3 million
Boose and Kahlert contended their land-and-cash package amounted to $3 million, according to Walesky, the environmental resources management director. But Walesky said he was skeptical, noting that the county recently bought land for $10,000 an acre in the area, about a third of what the partners said their land was worth.
Crum and Kahlert had purchased 33 acres of the land for less than $20,000 in 1996, real estate records show. Port Mayaca Land, which held purchase options on the remaining 45 acres, paid $643,000, or about $14,100 an acre in September 2005, right when the bids were being evaluated.
Presuming Crum's and Kahlert's 33 acres was worth that much at the time, the land-and-cash package amounted to about $1.7 million. Hering, however, placed its value at $2.2 million, a price that edged out Centennial Real Estate Investors $2 million, and made it the top bid once Poinciana Homes pulled out.
Hering said he didn't get a new appraisal of the property, that he looked at some appraisals made in the area several years earlier. He also consulted with Boose.
"We had major valuation issues," Hering said. "I talked with Boose and he gave me the rundown of what he thought it was worth. I don't think there were any commissioners involved at this point."
But in the end, the value of the property didn't matter. With the FBI shadowing Boose, the partners withdrew their offer. Crum also exited. On April 20, the trustee deeded his share of the property to Port Mayaca Lake Estates, a company whose manager is Boose.
Now the company and Kahlert have other plans for the property. Recently, they tried to sell the land to the South Florida Water Management District - the agency that had bought Masilotti's Martin County land without knowing he had a stake in it. The district's acquisition manager, Ruth Clements, said she steered clear once she knew Boose was involved. "We're a lot smarter than that," she said.
Kahlert, meanwhile, has applied for a state permit to reactivate an old sand and shellrock mine on 160 acres that includes the hiking trail route offered to the county.
Robert Krause, a county environmental resources supervisor who handles rock-mine regulation, said recently enacted mining restrictions shouldn't affect the Kahlert/Port Mayaca property because it long has had the needed zoning for rock pits. Commissioners last month voted to block new rock mining in Palm Beach County for two years until an environmental study is completed showing how rock blasting affects the Everglades Agricultural Area.
Krause said the restrictions actually could benefit Kahlert and Port Mayaca Lake Estates. "I guess this now makes the property more valuable," he said.
The push for the restrictions was led by Commissioner Marcus, who said she was concerned about rock mining endangering water quality and the Everglades after the commission on May 25 unanimously approved a mining company's plan to excavate 3,900 acres in the area.
Marcus' calendar shows an appointment with Kahlert on May 9, and with Boose on July 12, a week before the initial commission vote on the restrictions.
Marcus said she didn't recall the reasons for those meetings, but she was certain they weren't about mining.
"I have friends, I have meetings, but I didn't know anything about their plans," Marcus said. "I didn't know they had a mining operation. I didn't even know they owned the land."
*
Gulf drilling set for big expansion
Today, lawmakers are expected to approve opening 8.3 million acres.
Tamara LytleChief Washington Correspondent
December 8, 2006
WASHINGTON -- An 8.3 million-acre swath of the Gulf of Mexico off Florida's coast would be open to oil and gas drilling as part of a deal worked out by lawmakers Thursday after years of fierce debate.
The House was scheduled to vote today in favor of the drilling expansion as part of an unrelated bill offering tax breaks. The Senate likely will follow suit in what could be the final hours of the Republican-controlled Congress.
The legislation also would allow Floridians and residents of other states with no income tax to deduct sales taxes on their federal returns. That tax break, which would otherwise have expired, will be available for the 2006 and 2007 returns.
If the drilling measure passes today, it would settle the dispute between energy-exploration advocates who say the nation is starving for more resources and environmentalists who say drilling could wreck Florida's pristine beaches and tourism economy.
Florida lawmakers won a buffer of 125 miles or more for the state's coastline until 2022.
The drilling would be allowed in an area south of the Panhandle that runs roughly from the Alabama border to Fort Walton Beach and from 125 miles south of the state to a point even with the bottom of the state. The tract is about 235 miles west of Tampa in federal waters.
The drilling measure moved forward as the lame-duck Congress scurried to finish its work for the year.
Richard Charter, head of the environmental group National OCS Coalition, called it a "train robbery in the late of night on the way out of town" and the largest new drilling in a formerly protected area in decades.
Florida's delegation was once nearly united against drilling off the state's shores. But Gov. Jeb Bush and much of the Republican delegation began negotiating to allow drilling in exchange for the buffer after energy prices spiked last year and pressure mounted for new domestic sources of natural gas and oil.
The Florida delegation's vote was expected to break down mostly along party lines, with most of the state's Democrats opposing it and most Republicans favoring it.
Republican Mel Martinez and Democrat Bill Nelson worked together in the Senate to stop broader bills that would have brought drilling closer to Florida's shores.
Martinez, an architect of the compromise, said it offers far more assurances than doing nothing. Without legislation, the Bush administration would open 2 million acres off Florida to drilling next year. And without the bill, a future administration could drill just 25 miles off Florida's coast near Pensacola.
But Mark Ferrulo, head of the anti-drilling group Environment Florida, said the state would have been better off without the bill because Democrats next year are more likely to bar more energy exploration. "Why snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?"
The Senate is expected to take up the bill today in hopes of sending it to President Bush for his signature. But Democrats in the House may try to hold out until they can close a loophole that allows energy companies to avoid paying some drilling royalties to the federal treasury.
The White House had urged passage of the measure, and spokesman Blair Jones called it "a good step in expanding access to domestic resources and providing states a share of revenues."
The new drilling area holds about 1.26 billion barrels of oil as well as enough natural gas to heat 6 million homes for 15 years.
The bill is disappointingly narrow for the energy industry, which had favored a House version that would have ended a 24-year congressional moratorium on drilling along much of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts in federal waters above the outer continental shelf. That broader bill's hopes died when Democrats won control of Congress for the session that begins in January.
The critics who just months ago had opposed it as not doing enough to pump up production decided that during the final days of the Republican-controlled Congress they would push the narrower bill to at least win more drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., said the waters off Florida are near pipelines and other equipment stationed farther west in the Gulf so production can begin quickly.
But without more natural gas, he said, industry will suffer and lose business and jobs to foreign competitors. He favored gas drilling throughout the coastlines. "If America continues to lock up 85 percent of our coastline, we are going to give America a second-rate economy."
Athan Manuel of the Sierra Club called the bill dangerous to the environment.
"This is one last gasp for Big Oil and their allies in Congress. This election year, Americans spoke out about a new direction for the country, including on energy policy."
The bill also offers four energy-producing Gulf Coast states -- Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Mississippi -- a slice of the new federal royalties for drilling and gives all 50 states a small percentage to use for projects such as parks.
Tamara Lytle can be reached at 202-824-8255 or tlytle@tribune.com.
Politicians make deal on drilling
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers hammered out a tentative agreement Thursday that would allow oil and gas exploration in more than 8 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico, while barring rigs at least 125 miles off Florida's Panhandle.But it was unclear late Thursday whether the deal would hang together.
The House was preparing to vote, but with just one day of Republican-led lawmaking left in the congressional session, the Senate raised objections.
Both chambers tucked the bill into a massive package that also extends popular tax breaks — including a federal income-tax deduction for state sales taxes, a provision that affects states like Florida that don't have a state income tax.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist acknowledged all of the last-minute legislation — including a trade package — "could face obstacles" in the Senate, where several senators have voiced opposition to various provisions.
"I will be working with senators to find the smoothest path for the Senate to decide to take final action," Frist said.
Approval of the drilling measure would cap years of wrangling over how close to put oil and gas rigs off the Florida coast.
The debate has splintered a once-united Florida congressional delegation as rising gas costs and industry pressure convinced many lawmakers to embrace limited drilling in exchange for some protection.
Others argued the state should fend off all efforts because even distant drilling could threaten the state's tourist-dependent beaches.
The bill before lawmakers — which Florida Republican Sen. Mel Martinez helped negotiate — represents a retreat for House Republicans who had hoped to open up even more of the Outer Continental Shelf to drilling.
But they recently embraced the Senate-crafted legislation as the best chance to get something done before Democrats take control of Congress.
Environmentalists fought to stave off the measure, saying a Democratic-led Congress would be more likely to focus on energy conservation and developing alternative sources of fuel.
But the measure had bipartisan support, and industry groups in recent weeks stepped up the pressure, running ads in Capitol Hill newspapers to push lawmakers to pass something, contending that it will boost supplies of sorely needed energy, particularly natural gas.
Under the agreement, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas would gain millions of dollars in royalties from drilling companies.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., pledged part of the money would go toward restoring the Gulf Coast's battered wetlands and swamps.
But environmentalists suggested drilling in the Gulf has contributed to the destruction and loss of coastal wetlands.
"Thus, we don't see the logic in funding restoration when the trade-off is incentives for new drilling that would jeopardize other coastal areas," said Athan Manuel of the Sierra Club.
Some lawmakers and the Bush administration had raised concerns about sending the money to the four states rather than to the federal government, but the administration has not opposed the bill.
The measure would open up 8.3 million acres in the Gulf to drilling, while barring rigs 125 miles off the Panhandle, 235 miles off the coast of Tampa and nearly 325 miles from Naples.
The Senate has refused to take up the broader House effort to lift the congressional moratorium barring energy exploration off much of the nation's coasts.
Under the House bill, drilling could occur as close as 50 miles from shore, unless state legislatures vote to increase the ban.
Democrats were seeking Thursday to attach a potential poison pill to the legislation: asking lawmakers to fix a loophole that has allowed oil and gas companies to skip paying billions of dollars in government royalties on oil and gas produced in federally-owned waters in the Gulf.
The royalty provision cleared the House by a 252 to 165 measure earlier this year, but has not passed the Senate.
It was uncertain if the provision would be added late Thursday, but senators have warned that they won't take a drilling bill that has been altered.
"Anything that complicates it makes it more difficult to pass," Martinez said.
Deal
on tax breaks opens way for expanded Gulf drilling
WASHINGTON
-- An agreement on a tax package Thursday moved Congress closer to
opening a vast area in the Gulf of Mexico, 125 miles south of
Florida's Panhandle, to oil and gas drilling.
Both the House and Senate attached the drilling legislation to a
package of popular tax measures expected to win approval by week's
end as Republicans wrap up the 109th Congress and turn control over
to Democrats next year.
The drilling legislation also revamps revenue sharing from Gulf
oil and gas production, sending hundreds of millions of dollars to
four Gulf states for restoring coastal wetlands and repairing
hurricane damage.
Environmentalists opposed the measure, calling it a gift to large
oil companies. Drilling supporters -- including a cross-section of
the business community -- argued it would provide access to badly
needed energy resources, especially natural gas, and perhaps drive
down prices.
The 8.3 million acres that would be opened to drilling are
believed to contain 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 6 trillion cubic
feet of natural gas, enough gas to heat 6 million homes for 15
years. The country uses about 21 million barrels of oil a day.
The drilling area was carefully crafted to gain support of
Florida's lawmakers, with its eastern edge more than 200 miles from
state beaches.
"This protects Florida," said Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., called the drilling legislation
critical to Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states recovering from
hurricane Katrina and trying to restore storm-damaged wetlands. The
measure would steer 37.5 percent of federal royalties to the four
Gulf oil-producing states, with about half going to Louisiana.
While Louisiana's share would be about $100 million a year
initially, the amount would dramatically grow after 2017 to more
than $650 million annually because of increased production from not
only the 8.3 million acres but elsewhere in the Gulf.
Some lawmakers and the Bush administration have raised concerns
about shifting eventually billions of dollars in royalties from
federal oil and gas to the four states -- Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama and Texas.
Nonetheless, the administration has supported the measure.
The Senate approved the bill last summer but House Republicans
held out for broader access to oil and gas beneath the country's
Outer Continental Shelf. A House bill passed earlier in the year
would have lifted the long-standing moratorium that has barred
offshore drilling in 85 percent of the country's coastal waters.
After suffering losses in last month's election, House GOP
leaders accepted the Senate-passed bill that was limited to the Gulf
region.
"I don't believe it represents the answer to our country's
worsening supply situation," said Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa.,
who had been a co-sponsor of the broader drilling plan. But he said
he now supported the Senate version as a first step to broader
offshore drilling.
House GOP leaders had planned to bring up the legislation
separately earlier in the week but shifted tactics because they
could not get the two-thirds vote needed for passage under an
expedited process.-
The drilling measure is S 3711.
Land buy advances Wekiva parkway
The $74 million price reflects pressure to shield the river from later development.
Kevin Spear and Nin-Hai TsengSentinel Staff Writers
December 8, 2006
In what could rank among the most costly environmental land ever purchased in Florida, state and local authorities agreed Thursday to pay $74 million for a relatively small parcel near Wekiva River wilderness as an essential move toward building an expressway through the area.
At that figure, the 1,500-acre Neighborhood Lakes tract, straddling the line between Orange and Lake counties, will fetch its owners more than $49,000 per acre.
Much of the property is covered with pasture and is far from pristine compared with other lands along the treasured Wekiva River. Yet the selling price reflects enormous pressure felt by government officials and voiced by environmentalists to buy the property as a way to shield the river from a flood of development lured by a new expressway.
"It is strategically important in so many ways," said Jay Exum, president of the Friends of the Wekiva River. "Acquisition of this land has got to lead the effort to protect the Wekiva."
Paying such an eye-opening price will require complex financing. For starters, the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority is shelling out $19.8 million for land, to avoid having to condemn and acquire the land in court and for the purchase of development rights attached to the land.
The property was one of several parcels specified for mandatory purchase by the Wekiva Parkway and Protection Act, a law passed in 2004 after years of contentious negotiations among road builders, environmentalists and local governments.
The act finally gave a go-ahead for the state Department of Transportation and the expressway authority to build the highway but also set forth a long list of requirements for deflecting the impacts of potential growth.
Since then, however, developer Nancy Rossman of Orlando has pressed local authorities for rights to build hundreds of homes on the Neighborhood Lakes property, which is generally high, well-drained and suitable for construction. That effort was widely criticized as a way to inflate the price the state and partners would eventually pay for the tract.
Rossman could not be reached Thursday for comment.
"They knew we had to buy the property, and they kept seeking at every opportunity to up the value of the land," said state Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, a sponsor of the Wekiva act. "Ultimately, without that property, you can't build the road, and you can't protect the river."
The expressway, an on-again, off-again proposal for many years, is the last segment of what will become a beltway around Orlando.
Transportation experts have pitched the Wekiva portion as critical for lessening crowding on Interstate 4. In response, environmentalists rallied to oppose the expressway as likely to destroy the heart of Central Florida's favorite and imperiled environmental playground.
Exum said what changed was recognition among his group and other river defenders that State Road 46 and other local roads would be expanded continually in coming years and potentially do more damage than a well-designed expressway.
Among key conditions for lending support to an expressway, Friends of the Wekiva River and others demanded the purchase of the Neighborhood Lakes parcel.
Last year, the expressway authority was rebuffed in a $25 million bid for the land. Agency officials noted in its offer that the owners paid just $7 million for the land in 2001.
In recent months, state and regional authorities continued talks to buy the land but came away frustrated and fearing they wouldn't be able to scrape together enough cash.
Along with the expressway authority's contribution, the state Department of Environmental Protection will pitch in $34.2 million, with the remaining $20 million to be split among the St. Johns River Water Management District as well as Orange and Lake counties.
Exactly how much the counties will contribute is yet to be decided. Robert Christianson, who directs acquisitions for the water-management district, said the funding capabilities of the counties vary, and the deal was crafted to reflect that.
Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet are to consider the proposed purchase Dec. 19. The other partners will consider giving final approval in coming weeks.
Though 10 percent of the Neighborhood Lakes property will be set aside for the parkway, the rest will go toward conservation and become part of Rock Springs Run State Reserve.
"This acquisition demonstrates that by partnering together, it is possible to meet transportation needs of the region while also protecting the environment, " said Keith Schue, coordinator of The Nature Conservancy's Ocala-Wekiva Conservation Project, who called the purchase a "key milestone" in the success of the Wekiva act.
Another parcel identified for purchase by the Wekiva act, the 1,600-acre New Garden Coal tract, was acquired for preservation last year. In that deal, the owners were paid $2.5 million but were also granted permission to sell preservation credits to developers who can use those credits to obtain approval to destroy wetlands elsewhere.
The state has targeted two other parcels for preservation: the Seminole Woods property and the Pine Plantation property.
But of all four, the Neighborhood Lakes parcel has triggered the most anxiety because of its development potential and the tough, drawn-out negotiations by its owner.
Though the price is astounding by almost any measure, the amount was rendered less painful by sharing among the partners.
"We're talking about participating at a low price percentagewise," Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty said.
Kevin Spear can be reached at kspear@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5062. Nin-Hai Tseng can be reached at 352-742-5919 or ntseng@orlandosentinel.com.
Imperiled Fisheries Require Quick Action
Tampa Tribune editorial published: Dec 8, 2006
The news about our oceans should alarm and infuriate: All of the world's fishing stocks will collapse within 50 years if something is not done about overfishing, pollution and habitat destruction.
The result would devastate food supplies and destroy the commercial and recreational fishing industries.
These are the conclusion of a team of scientists from 12 academic institutions in five countries who analyzed dozens of studies and fishing data from around the world. The evidence is compelling. The researchers found that in 1980, just 13.5 percent of harvested fish had "collapsed," which occurs when catches dwindle to 10 percent of historic highs. Now nearly 30 percent of species have collapsed, even though the industry is pursuing far more species.
The situation requires prompt and resolute action, particularly tough fishing rules and regulations and more rigorous protection of coastal habitat. An end to government subsidies that encourage harmful fishing practices also is needed.
All nations should joint together in an effort to rescue a critical global resource.
As the report's lead author, Boris Worm, a marine biologist at Canada's Dalhousie University, put it: "It's not too late to turn this around. It can be done, but it has to be done soon."
Clam-farming operation snaps shut at year's end
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 08, 2006
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution is getting out of the clam-farming business.
"It doesn't make money," said Jan Petri, a spokesman for the research institute north of Fort Pierce. "In fact, it costs Harbor Branch money."
The private nonprofit facility got into the clam business to help fishermen affected by a 1994 net ban. In its first four years, Harbor Branch's clam program trained about 300 fishermen to farm clams and provided seed discounted about 25 percent.
But the operation's expenses now exceed revenues, Petri said. He wouldn't say by how much or for how long the operation has lost money.
As recently as 2002, Harbor Branch was producing up to 40 million clams a year. Most were sold to clam farmers and restaurants.
Harbor Branch will continue production through the end of the year. After that the clam-farming operations and equipment, including several large tanks and trays, will be given to Joseph Weissman, who is among five institute employees losing their jobs with the shutdown, Petri said.
Weissman, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, has told Harbor Branch officials he intends to hire the other four, Petri said. The employees also have been offered the opportunity to apply for other positions at Harbor Branch.
Weissman will pay nothing to take over the operations and equipment, a stipulation of a long-standing contract between him and Harbor Branch. The contract says that if either party ceases clam production, the other can assume total control, Petri said.
Harbor Branch's clam operation is one of the biggest of 12 such programs in the state, spokesman Petri said. There are also clam-farming businesses in Hawaii and North Carolina.
"It was never our vision to have a monopoly on this," Petri said. "Of course, the competitive market being what it is, others have caught on to growing clams."
According to the Florida Aquaculture Association, producers in the state reported $95.5 million in farm-gate sales in 2003, of which $13 million was in clams and oysters.
Harbor Branch will continue other aquaculture programs, Petri said. The end of clam growing is simply a part of a wider strategic plan aimed at improving its finances.
Two years ago the research facility stopped getting money from the family trust of the Johnson & Johnson health care products fortune, which pumped about $8 million annually into Harbor Branch. As a result, the research facility has been dipping into its $40 million endowment.
This summer, Harbor Branch trimmed 19 jobs from its payroll.
Board members now are considering a plan to have Harbor Branch become part of Florida Atlantic University.
Polk Wants Growth Plan to Be ChangedPolk County officials will meet soon with state planners to negotiate a massive change in the county's growth plan that affects an area of Four Corners where thousands of new homes and major new commercial developments are envisioned. 'We're going to Tallahassee and roll up our sleeves,' said Merle Bishop, the county's growth management director.
County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday night to approve the plan change, which triggers further state review. Commissioners initially approved the changes in August for an area of more than 16,000 acres and the Florida Department of Community Affairs responded in October with a list of criticisms of the plan.
The DCA's main criticism was that county planners did not do a very good job of documenting how the county would provide services to the thousands of additional residents the plan would allow by increasing the amount of land where residential development is allowed.
County planners said some of the specific issues, such as future water supplies, have been resolved since DCA's comments were published. Others, such as traffic and other public services, remain unresolved. Bishop said the plan has been revised to reduce some of the residential acreage, but the remaining residential areas will include more high-density residential development.
Bishop said that fits with the regional strategies that envision higher-density development around the Interstate 4/U.S. 27 interchange as an alternative to sprawling low-density development that's the norm in many residential areas in Central Florida.
'That could also make the housing more affordable,'' Bishop said. The language in the staff report contains a questionable claim that high-density residential development 'tends to have lower demand on public facilities.' But Bishop acknowledged there will be impacts that have to be addressed. Deputy County Manager Jim Freeman said one of the key strategies is not aimed at increasing residential development so much as it is with creating employment centers to encourage more people who live in Polk County to work here.
'We don't want to be just a bedroom community,'' Freeman said. The problem with being a bedroom community, county officials say, is that the residential growth creates demands for services without the commercial and industrial development to generate the property taxes to pay for it, since typically residential development costs more to serve than it supplies in revenue.
Nevertheless, Bishop said the area has to have enough residential development to attract the employment centers in the first place. He said one analysis planners are still trying to work out is determining the mix of owner-occupied and short-term rental units among the homes in the area.
That would tell planners, for instance, the size of the market for the employment center and would help to plan for providing services, such as schools, that residents use but tourists do not.
Alachua sets course for land to be annexed
By Ronald Dupont Jr.Herald Editor
ALACHUA - The first steps toward Alachua annexing 18 parcels of land, totaling more than 603 acres, was given unanimous approval Monday by the Alachua City Commission but not before an effort to deny possible annexations near Turkey Creek was rejected.
All of the parcels in question sit in what are known as enclaves, which are Alachua County pockets of land surrounded or nearly surrounded by city land. Cities throughout Florida on a regular basis ask landowners in enclaves to annex into the respective city so that there is no confusion over whether the city or county should respond for emergencies.
Enclaves also create other headaches when companies with contracts with the city have trouble figuring out which homes on a street are in city limits. The state has encouraged cities to "square off" their borders and eliminate enclaves through people voluntarily annexing their land into the city.
Monday, the Alachua city staff presented an "Urban Services Report" that showed 18 parcels of land that are candidates for annexation. By approving the report, the city would give the staff permission to move forward on having each landowner petition to be annexed into the city.
But in a last-minute move, 40-year Alachua City Commissioner James Lewis, a resident of Turkey Creek, asked that five parcels of land near or bordering Turkey Creek be taken off the list. Lewis, the second resident to move into the private development decades ago, gave conflicting reasons for his request.
He said the parcels were landlocked but some, indeed, were not. Then he said that the landowners must have "some reason to annex" - alluding to development. But he left people puzzled because he didn't object to the 13 other parcels of land spread throughout the city - only to the ones bordering the development in which he lives.
Further, he questioned the reasons for people wanting to annex into the city even after city staff said they had asked many of the landowners to annex to help get rid of enclaves.
In a rare - perhaps a first - vote of its kind for Alachua, none of Lewis' fellow city commissioners sided with him and his request to exclude the five properties was denied. After losing that vote, Lewis said he would vote with the rest of his commissioners, and the city commission then voted unanimously to include all 18 parcels in the Urban Services Report.
Of the 18 parcels of land up for consideration, the ones near Turkey Creek garnered the most controversy from residents as one after another said they feared landowners were annexing into the city for the simple reason of getting a zoning change to put housing developments on their land.
John Tingue, president of the Turkey Creek Master Owner Association's Board of Directors, said some of the parcels of land being considered for annexation are the last pieces of land between the private development and San Felasco Hammock State Park.
"A lot of people moved in there and were told nothing would be there," Tingue said. "...I like waking up in the morning, having a cup of coffee and watching deer walk across the golf course."
Turkey Creek resident Suzanne Miller said she didn't believe some of the landowners near Turkey Creek were requesting annexation simply to close up enclaves.
"I don't trust that they won't develop," she said, echoing comments made by others.
Some residents said they had been shown plans for a development on the land in question but attorney Sean Donnelly, representing the landowner, said those plans may have been made by speculators but never came from or were approved by the landowner.
"We also know the property is ecologically sensitive because Turkey Creek runs through there," Donnelly said. "My clients are individuals, not developers."
Resident Melissa Sherman said she and others were misinformed by who owned the land now in question.
"When we purchased our property, we were told the land was part of San Felasco Park and would never be developed," Sherman said. "We now know that's wrong."
When Lewis made a motion to exclude the various parcels of land near Turkey Creek from the Urban Services Report, the man who owns the land between the development and the state park got visibly angry.
Tommie Martin said the land has been in his family for more than 100 years and that he has no plans to transform it into a development.
"I would like my family to see the turkey and the deer on the land," he said.
Then, angrily gesturing to Lewis, Martin said, "Are we going to continue with the good old boy system we've had for years?"
While much attention focused on Martin's land, other land near Turkey Creek up for consideration was barely mentioned. That land is owned by John Freeland. He told commissioners that the problem with enclaves is real.
"It only came to my attention a few years ago that I wasn't in the city," he said, adding that he always assumed his 209 acres were in the city limits.
He, too, said he had no plans to put a housing development on his land.
As for other parcels of land up for consideration, none generated controversy. In fact, one resident, Ward Scott, said he was happy certain land was being annexed because the city could do a better job than the county with codes enforcement and law enforcement.
First steps OK'd toward allowing concrete plant in Alachua off U.S. 441
By Ronald Dupont Jr.Herald Editor
ALACHUA - The first steps have been approved for a concrete batch plant to move into Alachua off U.S. 441 near Sabine and the Electro Energy battery plant.
The city commission unanimously approved rezoning the 10-acre parcel of land from agriculture to industrial general, giving the developer, Alachua Partners LLC, the opportunity to move forward with getting approval to build a concrete batch plant.
At a batch plant, the concrete is made from aggregate, water and other materials, then dropped into concrete trucks - commonly referred to as cement trucks - that then takes the concrete to various job sites.
Another batch plant has been propopsed for a site on the Hipp Construction property, and that plant has garnered much controversy because of its proximity to neighborhoods and the downtown area. Dozens of people have shown up at city meetings to protest it.
But the new batch plant drew very little protest Monday as the developer's representative, Gerry Dedenbach of Causseaux & Ellington, pointed out that the proposed plant would not be located near any neighborhoods.
In fact, the land last year was proposed for a neighborhood but the commission turned down the idea, saying too much industrial use surrounded the property.
The only concerns by residents Monday over the idea of a batch plant came from a few who questioned the 327 truck trips a day the plant would generate on U.S. 441. One resident, as well as City Commissioner Bonnie Burgess, also questioned how runoff from the site may affect the area's ecosystem.
"It's not just a karst-sensitive area," Burgess said. "It's a highly sensitive karst-sensitive area."
Dedenbach said Alachua Partners LLC hired an environmental expert who determined that there would be "no harm" to the eco-system from the plant.
The report by the environmental expert, as well as traffic reports and other required reports for the batch plant to be considered for approval, will be presented to the city commission at a later date.
Tamara Robbins, a former city commissioner, said she was worried that while the land was being rezoned to industrial, the city had no way to ensure that a batch plant would be built there. The industrial zoning would allow a landfill, among other uses.
"(The land) sits there unused with an agriculture exemption gaining value until they can sell it," Robbins said.
But Dedenbach assured the city commission the the owners had plans for a batch plant and nothing else.
Push is on for regional transit authority
By WILL VAN SANT, Times Staff Writer
Published December 8, 2006
It's almost 2007 in Tampa Bay, one of the country's most congested metropolitan areas.
Yet the region, which has aspired to host international events like the Olympics, remains a transit infant.
Try taking a public bus from New Port Richey or St. Petersburg directly to Tampa International Airport. You can't.
Ronnie Duncan, who becomes Pinellas County Commission chairman in January, hopes progress can be made by a new regional organization.
As outlined in a proposal by Pinellas County Administrator Steve Spratt, the group would include officials and transit agency representatives from Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties.
Despite an array of local transportation planning groups, Duncan said, discussion among the governments has been limited, even as growth patterns are transforming the region.
"The time has come for us to begin addressing these shifts between where people live and people work," he said.
The idea comes as Tampa Bay leaders appear to be realizing that new directions are needed.
Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio has become a voice for area light rail and has succeeded in getting the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority and Hillsborough Area Rapid Transit to talk about regional cooperation.
And state Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, is sponsoring legislation to create a regional transportation authority. The authority would include leaders from Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Manatee and Sarasota counties.
Galvano's authority would have the ability to create public-private partnerships and issue bonds to pay for large transportation projects. He said the group could coexist with Duncan's smaller transit organization, but the last thing Tampa Bay needs is more talk that never leads to actual remedies.
"We are literally choking on plans in our region," he said.
Duncan said he supports Galvano's legislation.
They practice the art of activism
CRISTINA SILVAPublished December 8, 2006
INDIAN ROCKS BEACH
On the canvases are images of lemon- and tangerine-colored cottages under cobalt skies that were carefully crafted with determined brush strokes.
To the artists, the subjects are endangered species and the work is a last-ditch attempt to save the cottages of Indian Rocks Beach from being razed to build another condominium to add to Florida's great wall of concrete.
Violetta Shtumeyzen, 41, of Sarasota, Helen Tilston of Indian Rocks Beach, who is in her 50s, and Mary-Rose Holmes of Indian Rocks Beach, who would only say she is older than the other two, call themselves the Plein Air Cottage Artists.
They didn't intend to become political activists when they started painting landscapes together four years ago, but they quickly grew alarmed when their subjects started disappearing one by one.
Throughout Pinellas County, residents of beachfront cities are fighting developers and their local governments in an attempt to preserve the quaint, untouched quality of their neighborhoods.
In Treasure Island and St. Pete Beach, residents have restricted growth and protested tall buildings. Belleair residents have tried to do the same.
Indian Rocks Beach voters have repeatedly turned down measures that would allow for taller structures, Mayor Bill Ockunzzi said.
Right now, there are three condominium projects under construction in Indian Rocks Beach, and several more are on the table, he said. The Plein Air artists have helped fight that growth, he said.
"They put a face and a visualization on the cottages, which are a large part of the small-town atmosphere that we are trying to save in Indian Rocks Beach," he said.
The Plein Air artists cringe at the idea of buildings taller than five stories. Their worst fear is a Publix or Starbucks opening up in the area.
"It is not that we are against condos, but we think there are enough already," said Holmes, who has occasionally attended City Commission meetings to protest condominiums.
The Plein Air artists are impressionists. Most days, visitors can see them sitting side by side along the road or beach, painting three different images on their portable easels.
Their goal is to paint every cottage in town. So far, they have captured only a quarter of the homes.
The women met at a class at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art about seven years ago and quickly became friends. Shtumeyzen was the teacher and the only one with a background in professional art, but in 2002 the women started painting and selling their work together.
So far, the response has been favorable.
"People fall in love with it," Shtumeyzen said. "They just want to buy it off the easel."
In September, they spent two weeks in Tuscany and Venice on an art vacation.
This weekend, they opened an exhibit of their Italian art at the Villace Gallace Italian Restaurant, which will run until Jan. 31.
On Sunday, they participated in the Indian Rocks Beach Christmas parade dressed as 19th-century maidens in a float titled "Save Our Cottages."
The more they get their work out, the greater the chance they have at saving the cottages, they said.
"If you tear down a tree, you can replace it," Holmes said. "If you smash a cottage, it can never be replaced."
Cristina Silva can be reached at csilva@sptimes.com.
But hey, let's just keep building those 50 story condos right on the beach!
Planners Get Tips From Hurricane Veteran
Published: Dec 8, 2006
LARGO - Local emergency managers have spent years planning for a major hurricane hitting the Tampa Bay area.
On Thursday, they got a firsthand account from an official who has been through one elsewhere.
"You will have chaos like you never fathomed," said Greg Brown, property appraiser in Santa Rosa County, which suffered direct hits from hurricanes Ivan and Dennis. "I cannot impress upon you how devastating it is."
Brown is traveling to different communities to talk about his experiences with Ivan in 2004 and Dennis, which hit just 10 months later. This year's relatively mild hurricane season ended Nov. 30.
Brown's 90-minute presentation included a photo montage of hurricane-damaged homes and buildings, along with 911 calls from people trapped in their homes as Ivan made landfall, bringing 16 feet of storm surge.
Some attendees grimaced as they heard: "Oh my God! I can't get out of here," as a 911 caller described water rising in her home. "I don't want to drown in this house. I've never been so scared in my entire life."
"I am sorry," the dispatcher responded. "We can't send anybody until this passes."
The woman survived, but Brown said the call highlights the terror that ensues when a storm hits.
Brown urged emergency managers to be flexible during a storm as parts of their disaster plan fail. He said that even a good plan is not adequate when a major storm hits.
Santa Rosa County staff tried to save data on county computers as Ivan neared, but they never figured in the hours it would take for the computers to store the information. Frustrated with the delay, the staff wrapped computers in plastic so they could leave to board up their homes. Several computers were destroyed.
Santa Rosa officials never thought they would lose all communication after the storm, but Ivan knocked down all cellular phone towers in the area.
"Communicating with the public was a huge problem," Brown said.
Pinellas and Hillsborough counties have bought satellite phones to communicate after a storm.
Santa Rosa emergency workers had a difficult time getting accurate information to the public about where to get food, water and ice after the storm, Brown said. Distribution sites changed constantly.
County emergency officials printed fliers telling the public where to go, only to find that sites could not open or were relocated. "We'd send people out with fliers and then have to send people out 10 minutes later with new fliers," Brown said.
Other problems surfaced.
Hurricane Ivan knocked out several major bridges, which meant driving from the county seat of Milton to Gulf Breeze took six hours, normally a 30-minute commute.
Brown stressed that communities can't plan enough for the real thing.
"People get complacent when it hasn't happened before," he said.
Brown encouraged local emergency managers to use the newest mapping technology to know exactly which buildings will be affected by storm surge.
Pinellas County Property Appraiser Jim Smith said the county now has the latest mapping software, which will help calculate damage and ensure that the area gets federal disaster help it needs after a storm.
"I think we in Pinellas County have taken a very proactive approach," Smith said.
Gary Vickers, Pinellas County's director of emergency management, said he appreciated hearing Brown's account.
"It's always useful to listen to these personal experiences," Vickers said after the presentation. "It really puts an exclamation mark on what we are doing."
Reporter Baird Helgeson can be reached at bhelgeson@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7668.
Beltway planners have a new one: Private money
They're hoping for a $1.8 billion benefactor
The $1.8 billion needed would not be in the state's budget for decades, if ever, and even the Florida State Turnpike Authority can't raise enough money through bonds, Larry Parks, DOT's director of planning and production for that area, told the Northeast Florida Regional Planning Council on Thursday.
Planners have always assumed the beltway would be a toll road: Because the road would generate revenue, work would not have to wait for the transportation department budget to have enough money. Plus, turnpike authorities have more freedom: They are allowed, for example, to start working on construction even before all the rights of way for a roadway are acquired.
However, the Florida Turnpike Authority needs to break even in 22 to 30 years, Parks said, and the beltway bill could take decades longer to pay off.
Among the reasons for the high cost of the project: Increasing prices for construction materials, some of which have jumped 30 percent or more in the past year, and ever more expensive land.
Portions of the northern part of the beltway - such as the interchange between Interstate 10 and Branan Field-Chaffee Road and the widening of existing roadways - have been funded, but new construction in Clay County west of the St. Johns River, in St. Johns County east of the river and the span connecting the two sides, have not been. The department also has neither plans nor funding to extend the roadway further north, to connect with U.S. 301 in Nassau County.
Exactly how private investors would be brought into the project has not yet been worked out, Parks said, although the department has had preliminary conversations with at least two interested organizations.
"All those things are still negotiable," he said. "We're trying to put a package together. We haven't put all the numbers out there yet."
Early next year, Parks said, the department is hoping to bring together potential investors in a sort of summit, where details on the project and various ways of paying for it could be discussed. Among the options would be having the Turnpike Authority pay for part of the road while private interests pay for other sections, or having an investor pay for construction but not handle operation of the tollway.
Other states have had success "selling" their toll roads. Operating companies maintain the roads and keep the tolls in exchange for an up-front payment to the government. Early this year, a Spanish-Australian joint-venture paid $3.85 billion for a 75-year lease on the Indiana East-West Toll Road after earlier paying $1.83 billion for a 99-year lease on the Chicago Skyway.
Transportation planners working on a connection between I-75 and I-275 in Tampa, an expansion of I-75 and the construction of the Port of Miami Tunnel have expressed interest in similar deals.
timothy.gibbons@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4103
Two experts slash plan offering sinkhole option
DAVID DeCAMPPublished December 8, 2006
NEW PORT RICHEY - The plan to make sinkhole coverage optional by Citizens Property Insurance Corp. faces two criticisms:
Rates still would be too high without sinkhole coverage - and too high with it, said experts hired by Pasco County to fight for lower premiums.
Jacksonville attorney Timothy Volpe and New Jersey actuary Allan Schwartz told county commissioners Thursday they will argue that premiums should drop more when Florida regulators have a hearing Dec. 18 in New Port Richey.
"We have certain problems, certain issues with what Citizens has done, in terms of how they've tried to reconcile how much money they're taking in, how much they claim they need and how much is going out," Schwartz said.
Pasco leads the state in sinkhole claims, with Citizens raising rates by triple digits. But Citizens has estimated Pasco customers will save 56 percent, and Hernando 44 percent, if the state-run insurer can drop sinkhole coverage from standard policies statewide.
Hillsborough and northern Pinellas counties would see lesser drops because they have not been hit quite as hard by sinkhole-related rate spikes.
Volpe and Schwartz have not finished their report, but they said Citizens has not provided enough data yet justifying the proposed rates.
Volpe and Schwartz - who won lower rates this year in Monroe County - were also loath to reveal detailed legal arguments before the hearing.
But one issue appears crucial: a September mandate by the state that sinkhole coverage rates drop 14.4 percent because of changes in state law.
Instead, the Citizens proposal will mean people who want sinkhole coverage by the state-run insurer - Pasco's largest - will have to pay more next year than they do now.
By Citizens' account, insurance costs $7,019 on a 1978 masonry house worth $250,000 in Pasco. Without sinkhole coverage, the premium would be $3,664.
But the premium would rise to $7,395 if sinkhole coverage with a 10 percent deductible is included.
Citizens spokesman Rocky Scott declined to provide details on how the rates were calculated and declined comment on Volpe and Schwartz's questions until they submit a proposal.
But he said sinkholes might not be the only factor driving the rates. For example, a 25 percent rate increase on Jan. 1 is for reinsurance, the backup insurance for insurers.
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation's decision on Citizens' proposal, expected in January, will be important for customers of private insurers, too. Area lawmakers are writing a bill mimicking the Citizens proposal that would allow private insurers to make sinkhole coverage optional.
Volpe, who supports making sinkhole coverage optional, has helped write the proposed bill.
In both cases, "catastrophic collapses" would still be covered. But they would be defined as homes that drop 5 feet within seven days and become uninhabitable. Which leaves grass roots activists from Homeowners Against Citizens asking: What happens if a house drops just 4 feet - a drop that could still leave it unlivable?
Citizens could have flexibility if a home is uninhabitable, Scott said. The key issue was eliminating minor settling of houses under sinkhole coverage, he said. Doing so could reduce claims.
But Ginny Stevans, HAC president, questioned the wisdom of moving the sinkhole risk to homeowners instead of finding solutions that drop rates.
"We don't think that's effective," said Stevans, whose group will meet at 2 p.m. Saturday at the New Port Richey Library to discuss its options.
David DeCamp can be reached at 727 869-6232 or ddecamp@sptimes.com
City to move ahead
with rezoning
Some warn of
danger to wildlife
BY LINDA JUMP
FLORIDA TODAY
The city will move ahead with plans to change the use of land annexed around Micco Road between two conservation areas, over objections.
Housing varying from 2.5 single-family homes per acre to 20 multifamily units per acre, as well as commercial development, are proposed for about 600 acres. The land to the north is in the Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands program and to the south is the 5,800-acre St. Sebastian Buffer Preserve.
Eight speakers asked Palm Bay officials to give up plans for up to
10,000 housing units there because they said it would contribute to
urban sprawl, destroy the wildlife corridor, harm the
aquifer and increase traffic on Micco Road and Babcock Street.
Jim Egan of the Marine Resources Council said conservation groups are interested in buying the site.
City Manager Lee Feldman said developer Dan Logan has told city officials the overall density would be less than three units per acre.
"We haven't seen any plans yet, so everything is preliminary," he said.
Council members said the city would address all the issues when the plans come in.
"Before we put one slab of cement down, we will address these concerns," said Councilman Andy Anderson.
He, Mayor John Mazziotti and Councilman Pat Woodard all voted to pass on the changes to the comprehensive plan that would allow the development to the state for comments.
Council members Ed Geier and Donna Brooks were absent.
Contact Jump at 409-1423 or ljump@flatoday.net.
Infrastructure Fixes Are In The Pipeline
Published: Dec 8, 2006
TAMPA - A water pipe has burst downtown, snarling traffic for days.
No sooner do city workers and their contractors fix the problem than another pipe breaks. Then another erupts. And then another.
In the past couple of weeks, water pipes have broken in nearly every corner of the city. Some have caused major problems; others have been merely minor inconveniences.
"I've been here three years, and I don't remember quite this much disruption," said Steve Daignault, the city's administrator for public works and utility services. "But the water people say it's typical when temperatures fluctuate."
Several factors are at the root of the problem: the weather, old pipes and workers' mistakes.
When temperatures climb, pipes expand, said Brad Baird, the city's water department director. Cold fronts cause pipes to contract. When the temperature goes up again, pipes expand and, sometimes, burst.
Another problem, Daignault said, is the pipes are aging. More than half of the city's water infrastructure is more than 60 years old.
"A pipe fatigues over time," Daignault said. "It's just tired."
And sometimes, workers - either the city's or others - accidentally break pipes while doing other tasks.
Here is a sampling from the past few weeks:
•A pipe burst at West Shore Boulevard and Interstate 275 about two weeks ago.
•The next evening, Thanksgiving, a 10-foot section of pipe broke under the Hillsborough River, just south of Kennedy Boulevard. Traffic was jammed for days, and millions of gallons of water washed into the Bay before the city shut off the flow.
•About five days later, a pipe broke on Nebraska Avenue, between Seward and Fairbanks streets. Southbound traffic on Nebraska was limited while repairs were made.
•A couple of days after that, a pipe broke on Kennedy Boulevard at Oregon Avenue when workers inadvertently hit it.
•On Wednesday, a 1-inch water pipe broke at Hillsborough Avenue near Anderson Road. It quickly was fixed.
The cost of fixing pipes adds up. The city couldn't provide estimates Thursday, but the water department director has said the Hillsborough River fix alone could cost about $100,000.
The city plans to issue $32 million in bonds next year for water-related capital projects, including repairing and replacing pipes, said Bonnie Wise, the city's finance director.
Mayor Pam Iorio said Thursday that she is not considering a water rate increase. She said she has had no meetings on the issue and that she considers rate increases on a year-by-year basis.
"Obviously our problem is a big one," Iorio said. "We will do what's affordable. We will do a little at a time."
The water department is an enterprise fund, meaning that money collected from property taxes doesn't help fund the department. Instead, the department relies on revenue generated from rates and fees.
Other city officials are reluctant to talk about the rate issue.
Iorio is running for re-election in March, and all of the city council seats are up for grabs. Rate increases generally are unpopular politically.
"We need to look at it, and we do that every year as we go through the budget process," Daignault said.
The mayor proposed - and the council approved -a 3 percent water rate increase last year. It was the first since 1998.
The increase took effect Oct. 1, 2005, raising the average water bill from $11.20 a month to $11.54.
"We all hope we don't have any rate increase in the near future, but we've ignored our infrastructure for many, many decades, and that's not responsible government," said Councilman John Dingfelder, who runs the council's public works committee.
Baird said his staff started talking this week about which pipes need to be replaced first. Pipes with a history of leaking likely would be the priority, as would old ones with the potential to cause significant interference.
For example, a pipe bursting at the Tampa Convention Center would be more of a disruption than a break on a dead-end street, Baird said.
Once the staff prioritizes pipes, they will develop a business plan. Baird said fixing pipes after a break can cost about 50 percent more than if the city fixed them proactively.
"It's pay me now or pay me later," Baird said. "If you can plan it, it's a lot more cost effective."
Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com.
DeLand workers cut down oak
DELAND
-- Maggi Hall was stumped last week when she came home to find her
sprawling live oak gone.
The 150-year-old tree at the edge of the Realtor's Amelia Avenue
property was reduced from an almost 40-foot giant to a wooden stub,
she said.
"I just fell apart," Hall said. "I was
hysterical."
And a sniffling Hall wanted answers from the city.
"I do have a right to question what happens to my valuable
best friend," she said.
In response, city officials and tree department workers gathered at
the scene Thursday to explain why the boundary between private
property and public right of way had been crossed.
"It was a decision made in the field," said Marvin
Williams, DeLand's public works director.
After a portion of the sidewalk near the tree had been replaced, a
maintenance crew cut some of the oak's limbs and found decay.
They called Clarence Goosby, tree department supervisor, who
thought the tree outside Hall's fence stood on public land. He decided
to remove the possible danger immediately.
"If the tree hadn't been a hazard, we would've left it
there," he said. It was in "bad shape."
With a survey map of her property in hand, Hall was concerned she
hadn't been contacted about tree removal on her land -- a mistake the
city admits.
"It was a misunderstanding," Goosby said.
Hall is looking into the cost of replacing the tree and will
present the city with several alternatives for compensation. She
commended officials' response to her distress, saying "I'm not
sure a lot of communities would have cared that much."
Williams said the department will now identify problem trees on
public property, take pictures to document decay and contact the
nearby property owner. They will be notified five days before a
scheduled removal and get an opportunity to appeal unless a tree poses
an immediate safety threat, he said.
Homeowners are responsible for trees on their property and are
liable for any damage caused. They're required to hire an arborist to
look at problem trees and a private contractor for removal.
The department cut 275 trees this year and replanted 203 within two
weeks of giving them the ax, Williams said.
"We've been moving in the direction of more
preservation," said Mariellen Calabro, city forester.
DeLand distributed 900 trees to residents in April at the city's
annual tree giveaway. At its public works facility on South Garfield
Avenue, the department houses a nursery for tree replacements.
Developers of new subdivisions or commercial sites must plant trees on
their sites.
The city also has been part of The National Arbor Day Foundation's
Tree City USA program for 17 years, said Michael Pleus, assistant city
manager. The program supports urban and community forestry.
"It's in our nature to be a Tree City because of our
history," Pleus said. "We're definitely proud of our
designation."
DeLand residents went on a planting frenzy in 1886 to take 50 cents
off taxes for each oak planted on city right of way. The break was
repealed one year later after overwhelming response.
Hall pledged to join the city's six-seat tree advisory committee,
which spearheads efforts to maintain compliance with the Tree City USA
program.
"I just want something positive to come from this sad
situation," she said.
Wal-mart construction may start in '07
By Wire services
Published December 8, 2006
Construction on the new Wal-Mart store in Wesley Chapel may start as early as the second half of 2007. Wal-Mart officials sealed a deal Thursday with the county's Development Review Committee on a new set of road realignments and improvements leading to its proposed store at County Road 54 and Porter Boulevard, eventually to be part of the Wiregrass development. Thursday's agreement paves the way for the County Commission and the state Transportation Department to also sign off on the deal. Wal-Mart expects to start working on site plans in the second quarter of 2007, and an optimistic estimate would have the bulldozers on the ground in the year's second half, said Wal-Mart attorney Glenn Smith.
Window of school bus hit, dented
A school bus was shot by what authorities think might have been a pellet gun Wednesday afternoon, said Pasco County sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin. Diane Cooper, 57, was driving the bus along Johnson Street with three special-needs students and a bus assistant from Centennial Elementary inside when the driver's side window was hit and dented by what may have been a pellet. Mike Park, director of transportation for the school district, said no one was hurt.
The incident is not uncommon, he said. School buses are shot by pellet guns four or five times a year.
"It's a big yellow bus, and kids playing around and don't understand that it's dangerous," Park said.
The Sheriff's Office is looking for a suspect who is a black male, with a thin build and about 5 feet 6 tall, Tobin said. Anyone with information should call the Pasco County Sheriff's Office tips line at 1-800-706-2488.
Board seeks preservation grants
By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff Writer
Published December 8, 2006
LECANTO - A county advisory board is taking the next step toward getting some much-needed grant money to help with historic preservation efforts.
But the path has been a rocky one.
This week, the Historic Resources Advisory Board voted 3-2 to try using the county's approved historic preservation ordinance to gain a designation that will help it get grants.
The board is asking the County Commission to seek the state designation of "certified local government."
But the discussion before and after that Wednesday afternoon vote demonstrated how confused the process has been.
While the board has existed for three years, the ordinance that gives it power has been in place only since earlier this year.
That's when some board members suddenly realized just what power they had. Their charge includes deciding which structures in the county are historic, which can be demolished and which must be saved.
After the first applicant came forward seeking permission to raze a dilapidated old house on his property, the board had to decide that issue even as it was establishing criteria for decisions.
At about that time, the previous advisory board Chairman Tom Franklin decided not to seek another term on the board.
He told the board he could not enforce the ordinance because it could have a negative impact on property rights.
Long active in historical preservation in the county, Franklin again addressed the advisory board on Wednesday, beating himself up over not raising the alarm about the ordinance before it was approved by the County Commission.
He told the advisory board there were still too many unanswered questions for it to seek the county's application for the "certified local government" designation.
Assistant County Attorney Michele Lieberman last month told the board the ordinance may not have enough teeth to earn the county designation.
Some board members have said a stronger ordinance is needed, while others have sided with Franklin, saying the existing ordinance could harm property rights.
"The issue is: Do we have too much power, and if we have too much power, are we compelled to use it?" said advisory board Chairwoman Sandra Noble. "I think our role is a guiding role."
Board member John Grannan said he was concerned about notifying people who had properties on the county's historic list.
The board is in the process of developing that master contact list.
Grannan said he'd rather see the board develop criteria to make demolition decisions "rather than go back to the commission and say we don't want this power."
While board member David Noble said he wasn't sure the ordinance did have what it needed to get the state approval, he believed the board should move ahead. That way, the state could see the ordinance that exists now and suggest what is needed to give it more bite.
But Franklin said that was never the intent of the board or the ordinance. The board was instead meant to advise the commission.
"I'm not against historic preservation," Franklin said. "My concern is property rights."
"The ordinance did not have the flavor that we wanted it to have," said board member David Arthurs. "We have a stronger ordinance than what we wanted."
Grannan, David Noble and Teresa Johns-Gordon voted to ask the commission to begin the application process for the "certified local government" status. Sandra Noble and Arthurs voted no.
After the discussion, Floral City resident Frank Peters urged the board to think about the larger picture of historic preservation. He asked them to focus on stopping the deterioration of existing historic structures.
He illustrated his point using photographs of the old bar known as "the Lighthouse" on U.S. 41 in Floral City, which was recently demolished.
He likened the historic structures in a community as threads in a fabric. Once the threads are lost, "the fabric no longer exists," Peters told them.
In other business, the advisory board voted to support the Floral City redevelopment plan as the county moves forward to adopt it into the Citrus County Comprehensive Plan.
The proposed overlay district would allow the county to control what future construction will look like in a designated zone of the community.
Details of that picture will emerge in coming months as the county also prepares to fit the redevelopment plan into the county's formal Land Development Code.
Barbara Behrendt can be reached at 564-3621 or behrendt@sptimes.com.
Progress Energy plans to reveal nuke plant site soon
By Terry WittProgress Energy Florida President Jeff Lyash said Thursday the company will announce later this month where it plans to build its next nuclear power plant, and he said Crystal River is a finalist.
Lyash said the company has examined potential locations for a nuclear power plant for a year and a half and narrowed the list of qualified sites to four, but he said a final decision has not been made.
“I will say we will make an announcement by year’s end,” Lyash said. “I will say Crystal River is one of the final four sites.”
He declined to name the other three sites in his meeting with the Chronicle Editorial Board. He said the announcement would be made in the community where the plant site is located.
Lyash said the company plans to build one nuclear power plant and reserve the right to build a second nuclear power plant at the same location.
Progress Energy owns 5,000 acres at the Crystal River Energy Complex. The company needs 2,000 acres for its next nuclear power plant.
The Crystal River nuclear power plant has operated at the energy complex since 1977. The site also is home to four coal-fired plants, two of which will be upgraded in the next four or five years to reduce emissions by 75 percent, Lyash said.
Lyash said the next nuclear power plant would probably employ about 500 people. If a second nuclear power plant were constructed at the same site, he said the company would not need as many employees because it would be more efficient to operate two plants on the same location.
Lyash said it takes about 10 years to license and build a nuclear power plant. He estimated the cost of building a nuclear power plant would be about $2 billion to $3 billion. He conceded that many communities are wooing the company, knowing the plant would add hundreds of quality jobs and billions to the tax base.
“Yes, we have many communities that have approached us and said they would support us bringing a nuclear power plant,” Lyash said. “It’s not something you would have seen 15 to 20 years ago.” He said people have seen nuclear power in operation for several decades.
Lyash said he knows the company has a long history of community support in Citrus County, and the value of that support should not be underestimated.
When the announcement of a plant site is made, it doesn’t necessarily mean the plant will be constructed. It means the company wants to build a plant at that location at some point in the future, according to Buddy Eller, who heads communications for Progress Energy Florida.
Lyash said the company’s short and long-range plans call for adding “baseload generation.” The term refers to expanding the company’s capacity to generate electricity to meet rising customer demand. He said the company will add 50,000 new accounts this year in the 35 Florida counties it serves.
Lyash said Progress Energy plans to build new generation plants and upgrade existing ones. He said the company has filed an application with the Florida Public Service Commission to increase output at the Crystal River nuclear power plant by 15 percent.
The company also plans to add 600 megawatts of generation at its gas-fired Hines plant and 800 megawatts at the Bartow oil-fired plant site.
Lyash said Crystal River has a number of assets that make it a good site from the company’s perspective. Community support is one, but he said Crystal River also has existing transmission lines and an existing nuclear power plant.
On the other hand, Lyash said the company doesn’t believe in building all its plants in one location, and Crystal River already has five generating plants in operation.
Building a nuclear power plant is expensive and will result in upward pressure on customer rates in the first few years of operation. However, he said the increases would be limited to “dollars, not tens of dollars.”
Impact fee workshop raises hackles
By Terry WittThe ongoing discussions about impact fees escalated into a fierce debate Thursday as Citrus County commissioners tried to work through their differences in a marathon workshop.
At press time, commissioners were debating whether to phase in the fees to lessen the economic impact on those who must pay them, or require full payment as soon as the fees were due.
Tindale-Oliver & Associates, the county’s impact fee consultant, estimated the proposed fees would generate $1.1 billion in revenue during the next 23 years.
The fees are reviewed every two or three years, and can be changed, but the consultant wanted to give the board an idea of how much money would be generated in the long run.
Bob Wallace, the lead consultant for the company, estimated the fees would generate $28.7 million annually for transportation and $10.7 million annually for schools, the two largest impact fee categories.
Impact fees are levied against new residential and commercial construction. The fees are important in a growing county because they pay for a portion of the cost for building public roads, schools and other government structures. Commissioner Vicki Phillips said impact fees pay about 30 percent of the cost.
Wallace produced a graph showing residential impact fee comparisons for 15 counties. Citrus County’s fee for a single family home is now $6,665, ranking it sixth. But the proposed fee for a home would rise to $16,275, moving Citrus County to second behind Pasco’s proposed fee of $18,815.
Wallace said sharp rises in the cost of construction materials and the cost of building roads and buildings resulted in the increases. He said he expects other counties listed on the graph to adjust their fee schedules to reflect the higher costs of construction.
However, builders complained the proposed fees would crush the local economy and force people out of work by slowing the amount of construction. Kirk Sorenson, consultant for the Citrus County Builders Association, questioned the accuracy of Wallace’s numbers and suggested commissioners adopt a fee schedule at 40 percent of what Wallace recommended.
Commissioner Gary Bartell suggested phasing in the fees for schools and transportation. He said 50 percent could be paid the first year and 50 percent the second, but Phillips and Commissioner Joyce Valentino said the fees should be implemented with no phasing plan.
Phillips said she was elected in 1992, the year commissioners set aside $50,000 to hire an impact fee consultant. She said the $50,000 was carried over for five years and never spent. When the consultant was finally hired, she said commissioners adopted smaller fees than what the consultant recommended.
She said phasing in the fees was another way of “postponing the inevitable.”
“I believe to accept them at anything less than 100 percent is just watering down the process,” she said.
Damato proposed a different approach.
He suggested residents be given 90 to 120 days to prepay at existing impact fee levels. He said it wasn’t a discount, but rather an incentive to pay early at a lower rate.
Among his many suggestions, Damato also recommended reducing impact fees for new medical buildings in an effort to attract new doctors to the county. Noting the county has a shortage of doctors, he said the impact fee for medical buildings should be reduced up to 50 percent.
Damato’s ideas were temporarily lost in the debate about phasing. The workshop at that point was more than seven hours old and showed no signs of abating.
On A Path To Pave Paradise
Published: Dec 7, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - The state's population will double to 36 million by 2060, and if growth management policies don't change, 7 million of the state's 19.5 million remaining undeveloped acres will go urban.
In the Tampa Bay area, consider our current rush hour "and imagine that times two," said Lester Abberger, chairman of 1000 Friends of Florida. "The implications of this are: more and worse."
Abberger's growth-management advocacy group on Wednesday released what he called a "frightening scenario" on future population and urbanization, urging lawmakers to use the data to change the course of development in Florida.
Here are what the projections, prepared by the University of Florida's GeoPlan Center for 1000 Friends, hold for Central Florida, which is to incur "explosive" growth:
•Continuous urban development from Ocala on the north to Sebring on the south, and coast to coast from St. Petersburg to Daytona Beach. The corridors of interstates 75 and 4 will be fully developed.
•Full build-out of Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and several other central counties.
•Replacement, or at least fragmentation, of virtually all of the area's natural systems and wildlife habitat corridors.
•The largest percentage of urban land use - 51 percent - of any region in the state. More than a quarter of the region will be transformed to urban status in the next generation.
Recent growth management legislation is "a good first step," Abberger said at a news conference in the state capital. However, gesturing to a Florida map splattered in red indicating urbanized areas more than 50 years from now, he said, "We're going to need a lot more big steps to avoid the frightening scenario you see on the 2060 chart."
Congestion, Claustrophobia
Unchecked growth presents several threats to the state, according to the study. Crowded schools, traffic congestion, inadequate disaster preparedness and infringement on natural habitat and land that has cultural, environmental or historical significance can deteriorate the quality of life of residents. It could put the brakes on the state's phenomenal job growth, particularly with the "creative class" so highly sought.
"This piece of work is saying, 'We can see the future, and it's not what we hope it will be,'" said Tim Jackson, 1000 Friends' vice president. "Let's rethink this and start by doing a real plan for the long-term future."
A companion study by a growth management center at Georgia Tech outlines steps that could help accommodate Florida's expected growth while protecting the environment and quality of life. The 1000 Friends group will forward the following recommendations to state lawmakers:
•Expansion of the Florida Forever land acquisition program, to the tune of $1 billion a year from the $300 million now budgeted for conservation.
•New policies on the conversion of rural land to urban use, requiring more preservation, open space and agriculture.
•A 100-year legacy plan, a sort of statewide comprehensive plan laying out what areas are appropriate for development and redevelopment.
•Identification of leaders to organize and advocate for statewide growth management.
Officials from 1000 Friends said they will convene state leaders next year on long-term state planning. The group also is working on a 2060 scenario if projected growth and development patterns follow principles of smart growth.
The Legislature may not be quick to embrace the recommendations.
An extensive growth management package passed in 2005 now requires concurrency from developers, or pay-as-you-go for infrastructure needs such as roads and schools. The legislation also committed billions of dollars in state money toward road projects and other transportation needs.
And the Florida Forever program - successor to the original Preservation 2000 program - does not expire until 2010.
Lack Of Enthusiasm
Lawmakers on Wednesday suggested it might be premature to tinker with growth management policies.
"I commend 1000 Friends of Florida for being visionary and getting out in front and talking about the next program," said state Rep. Stan Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, head of his chamber's Agriculture and Environment Appropriations Committee. "But it's important to take stock and realize where we are in our overall conservation efforts."
Mayfield's compatriot on the Senate side, Republican Dan Webster of Orlando, said he wants to examine the progress of the 2005 legislation before digging in again. "We're not done with what we started," he said. However, "We haven't stopped evaluating what we did. We're not closed to ideas that would say, 'Here's a better way to do it.'"
The study incorporates complicated assumptions about urban density and criteria for development such as proximity to existing urban areas. It did not consider any mass exodus from Florida because of the property insurance crisis or soaring property taxes.
Webster noted that 50 years ago - before widespread use of air conditioning - planners never could have envisioned the Florida of the turn of the 21st century. And any current vision that far forward also will involve variables.
"There are a whole lot of legislative sessions between now and then," Webster said. "As we move forward, we'll be doing a lot of things" that could render the 1000 Friends scenario obsolete, he said.
Reporter Jerome R. Stockfisch can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or jstockfisch@tampatrib.com.
Paving the way toward a very crowded future
Environmentalists and developers studied state growth, and it's not pretty -- unless things change.
Kevin SpearSentinel Staff Writer
December 7, 2006
How crowded and unlivable could Florida be in a half-century?
Think of emptying most of New York state's 20 million residents into the Sunshine State.
Put another way, Florida's population will equal the nearly 36 million now living in California, but they'll have just a third of the land to live on.
Central Florida won't escape the stampede as it transforms into a megalopolis -- the Orlando area in the bull's-eye of an unbroken crisscross of pavement from Ocala to Sebring and from Daytona Beach to St. Pete Beach.
What now are nearly 3 million acres of natural lands will become a sprawl of roads and rooftops. Much of the remaining wilderness will be rendered ecologically isolated and desolate, more suitable for urban critters such as dogs, cats and pigeons.
That bleak scenario was unveiled Wednesday in maps and studies by a broad coalition of environmentalists, growth-management advocates and two of the biggest developers in Florida.
"It shows a frightening look at the future," said Tim Jackson, a vice president of the wise-growth group 1000 Friends of Florida in Tallahassee.
The coalition's warning: If unchanged, Florida's long-standing style of growth and the government rules that control development will ruin the state's quality of life just halfway through this century.
Florida will have twice as many people --more than 36 million -- and twice as much cityscape as today.
State Senate Republican Leader Daniel Webster of Winter Garden said there is little doubt Florida faces serious challenges. But the state has made much progress in recent years, he said, including a decision to spend billions of dollars to build roads.
"I certainly don't want to discount what we've done already," Webster said. "I'm sure the Senate is going to look at what the 1000 Friends of Florida has to say and add that into the mix."
The coalition's studies, prepared by academic experts and sponsored in part by landowner-developers A. Duda and Sons Inc. and the St. Joe Co., outlined strategies far more ambitious than road building.
One recommendation is to require developers to set aside more substantial areas for conservation before they are allowed to bulldoze raw land for housing.
The studies also suggested accelerating the purchase of land for conservation, far more regional and statewide coordination of growth management and widespread promotion by the governor, Legislature and local governments of a 100-year plan for what the state should look like.
"I don't think we have a choice," said Jackson, an Orlando planning and design consultant. "We have to believe we can accomplish a better and improved future."
It won't be easy, as Florida continues to attract nearly 1,000 new residents every day.
That explosive growth showed up in grim detail on the maps prepared by the University of Florida's GeoPlan Center and based in part on the school's Bureau of Economic and Business Research population estimates.
Nearly 7 million acres in Florida -- including 2.7 million acres of agricultural lands and another 2.7 million acres of native habitat -- will be developed for urban use by 2060, according to the studies.
Central Florida will be at the epicenter of that growth.
Orange, Seminole and Brevard counties will have given up nearly all of their raw land for development by 2040, with most natural habitat and wildlife corridors chopped into pieces or left to wither as disconnected pockets of green.
Meanwhile, the conquest of Duval County's last developable tracts is projected to occur sometime after 2040, with the ever-burgeoning population of that northeast Florida metro area flooding outward into Nassau, St. Johns and other rural counties.
In a surprise even to the growth map's leading drafter, professor and GeoPlan Center co-director Margaret Carr, some of the state's least-populated areas are the most vulnerable.
"A shocking reality . . . is to look at some of the rural counties," Carr said.
The four rural counties most likely to experience the greatest increase in urbanization: Hardee, DeSoto, Glades and Hendry in southwest Florida.
Mapping Florida's growth through 2060 mirrors work completed in 2005 by the University of Pennsylvania to project what Central Florida might become by 2050.
According to its projections, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Volusia, Brevard, Lake and Polk will balloon from about 3 million residents to more than 7 million four decades from now.
Linda Chapin, director of the Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies at the University of Central Florida, said projections of growth warn of disasters.
"That's the result of uncontrolled sprawl," Chapin said. "We pave over everything we love."
The message for residents and community leaders, she said, is that costly and destructive sprawl is avoidable, but only if efforts start now.
The next step is to map out more ecologically sensitive growth patterns for the state, an effort already performed for Central Florida.
More ideal growth, according to the 1000 Friends of Florida and others, encourages mass transit between communities that are more densely developed and bordered by vast tracts of natural lands.
Some landowners claim to have embraced that vision already.
Longtime farming giant A. Duda and Sons, which owns about 100 square miles in Florida, said it expects to set aside for conservation nearly half of a 12,000-acre expansion of its Viera development in Brevard County.
The St. Joe Co., which owns more than 1,000 square miles in Florida, also has set aside large conservation areas as part of development projects in the Panhandle.
But the company's chief strategy officer, Chris Corr, pointed out that assembling large tracts for conservation might be a much more daunting challenge when government agencies have to deal with smaller and far more numerous companies.
"Growth policy is really complicated," Corr said.
Kevin Spear can be reached at 407-420-5062 or kspear@orlandosentinel.com.
Study: Fla. population to double in 50 years Florida's population a half century ago was about five million.
Today there are about 18 million Floridians.
A half century from now, the Sunshine State will likely have twice as many residents, or about 36 million.
That projection was made by researchers on Wednesday who also said most of the growth over the next 50 years will likely be in the southern half of Florida's peninsula. Here in North Florida, extreme growth is expected to be centered around Jacksonville.
Projections were a big part of a pair of studies released Wednesday by the 1000 Friends of Florida. Friends is a 20-year-old organization that was formed to "keep the state's communities livable." The group commissioned the studies, which cost a combined $50,000 to project how Florida will look in 2060 and what can be done now to alter the development path Florida appears to be on.
The studies were underwritten by The St. Joe Co., Florida's largest private landowner, A. Duda and Sons, a major agribusiness, and The Nature Conservancy, an environmental group.
In an overview provided to reporters on Wednesday, several counties were singled out for comments. Researchers wrote that "relatively large areas of undeveloped land are projected to remain in Levy, Lafayette, Gilchrist and Suwannee counties in 2060. Suwannee County appears to be particularly vulnerable to roadside development, significantly transforming this rural landscape."
The projected growth in Suwannee County was along Interstate 10, especially where it intersects with U.S. 90 and U.S. 129.
Also noted in the overview was that "significant new population is anticipated in Taylor County near Keaton Beach and Dekle Beach, environmentally sensitive areas susceptible to high storm surges."
Large, upscale vacation developments are already being planned for that region.
Growth projections
The first study, entitled "Florida 2060: A Population Distribution Scenario for the State of Florida," came out of the University of Florida's GeoPlan Center. It projected that another seven million acres of rural land statewide will be urbanized — either paved over as roadways or subdivided into housing lots or otherwise conscripted for development. And, if current development patterns continue, a "sea of urbanization" will surround what are now protected conservation lands, the report said.
Areas least likely to change were those in the Big Bend, which included Levy and Dixie counties, as well as the Panhandle. Researchers concluded those areas will likely "retain significant areas of open space."
One of the study authors, Margaret Carr, a GeoPlan professor, said researchers used middle range projections in their work and assumed the state's average annual population increases — about 330,000 residents each year — would continue.
In a teleconference with reporters from around the state Wednesday morning, Carr referred to what has been going on in Florida as "disjointed incrementalism." Carr said many small decisions made by multiple city, county, regional and state agencies have a cumulative effect on growth.
A game plan
A second study, "A Time for Leadership: Growth Management and Florida 2060," was conducted by Georgia Tech's Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development.
The Georgia researchers found that steps need to be taken now to plan for "development that is both sustainable and environmentally friendly."
Specifically, the researchers recommended:
· expanding Florida Forever, the natural-lands acquisition program to include agriculture and forestry lands.
· establishing a policy that rural land only be allowed to be used in urban density in return for significant public benefit.
· developing a 100-year plan that would identify which lands should have permanent protection from development, which could be developed and those appropriate for redevelopment.
· identifying the leaders who can make this all happen.
"An alarm bell has been sounded," said Vicki Tschinkel, Florida Director of The Nature Conservancy. "But that alarm should be a call for realistic large-scale planning, rather than platitudes about slowing growth. The future has not yet been written. We can still choose the kind of place Florida will be in fifty years. But we are going to have to work together to make it the special place we all want it to be."
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Karen Voyles can be reached at 486-5058 or voylesk@gvillesun.com.
Florida's population may
double by 2060 Imagine a sea of pavement instead of grass spreading contiguously
from Fort Myers to West Palm Beach. A landscape of endless urban jungle
cramming 9 million new people into subdivisions clustered from Tampa
through Daytona Beach.
Development gobbling up open land at a rate that more than doubles
the suburban and exurban landscape.
It's a picture of Florida 50 years into the future, when a
provocative new report indicates the state will be home to nearly 36
million people.
Florida developers and environmental groups on Wednesday released the
austere study by the University of Florida in the hope of stirring
discussion about how to handle the 17.9 million people planners expect
to move in by 2060.
Unlike previous population estimates, the new report by the UF
GeoPlan Center used current growth patterns to map where development is
likely to occur should Florida's population double.
The final product shows the entirety of Central, Southwest, and South
Florida completely shaded in red for development, with the Panhandle not
far behind.
In Central Florida, the Interstate 75 and I-4 corridors will be
completely developed. Seven counties from Tampa Bay to Brevard and
Indian River would be completely built out by 2040.
Charlotte, Lee and Collier counties would follow, exhausting their
supply of developable land two decades later and forming a ''continuous
band of urban development along the southwest Florida coast.''
The report concludes the only areas where large tracts of land would
be spared are the Panhandle and Big Bend -- but even that stretch from
Pensacola to Tallahassee would double its population, from 1.4 million
to over 2.7 million people.
''The patterns are very stark,'' said Charles Pattison, executive
director of 1000 Friends of Florida, which sponsored the report.
''You can see a result that shows extensive urbanization that has
major implications for our quality of life, the economy of the state and
obviously environmental features.''
The report was underwritten by two of the biggest developers and
rural land owners in Florida, The St. Joe Co. and A. Duda and Sons,
along with The Nature Conservancy and several urban design firms.
Critics were also quick to note it makes some big leaps by ignoring
factors such as high taxes and homeowner insurance costs, dwindling
water supplies and ongoing conservation efforts that could slow or
re-direct growth.
The UF GeoPlan Center used 2005 population growth trends and the
urban land used for each new person in every county and projected it
forward 55 years.
The report indicates:
7 million acres of additional land would have to be developed to
handle the growth, more than twice the land currently considered urban
today.
More than 2 million acres of current conservation lands, roughly one
acre of every five protected today, would be within a mile of urban
development, ''isolating some conservation holdings in a sea of
urbanization,'' the report states.
Out of Florida's 67 counties, Glades, Hardee, DeSoto, Hendry,
Osceola, Baker, Flagler and Santa Rosa are projected to undergo the
greatest transformation. Rural Glades and Hardee are expected to have 14
times more urban development, the report warns.
And current urban areas would become traffic nightmares. ''Go to
Tampa during rush hour and imagine that times two,'' said Lester
Abberger, a lobbyist and president of 1000 Friends of Florida.
Timothy Jackson, a vice president of 1000 Friends, said the report
wasn't intended to shoot an anti-growth warning shot at the Legislature
and incoming Gov. Charlie Crist.
''We don't believe significant time trying to slow down growth would
be productive,'' Jackson said.
Instead, proponents hope to use the report and accompanying
recommendations to give policymakers a glimpse of what Florida could
become if sprawl, transportation and conservation needs are neglected.
Along with the maps, Georgia Institute of Technology's Center for
Quality Growth and Regional Development produced a set of
recommendations that include beefing up Florida's conservation
land-buying program, Florida Forever, and toughening policies to steer
development away from cities' outer limits.
''We're really saying 'My gosh, you've been too successful. You've
got growth,''' said Center Director Catherine Ross. ''Now how are we
going to accommodate it? It can't be what you've done in the past. It's
not sustainable.''
Extensive sprawl projected in Leon, Wakulla counties
Florida's population is expected to double by 2060, gobbling up open space and encircling Wakulla Springs with development, according to a study released Wednesday.
A University of Florida study says the state's population will double from 18 million to 36 million. The study projects growth spreading from urban areas into rural counties across the state, including Wakulla County.
The study was released by the group 1000 Friends of Florida, which called on the state to create a growth plan extending 100 years into the future. The group also wants the state to spend more to buy conservation land while also preserving farms and containing urban sprawl.
"You can see a result that shows extensive urbanization that has major implications for our quality of life, the economy" and environment, said Charles Pattison, the group's executive director.
The report shows urban development extending far to the north and east of Tallahassee and Leon County. But much of the Red Hills region to the north of Tallahassee would remain in conservation.
To the south, urban development would encircle the state park and state forest surrounding Wakulla Springs. Development also would increase in Sopchoppy and Panacea.
But Allen Freeland, chairman of the Wakulla County Economic Development Council, said residents support keeping the area around Wakulla Springs rural.
And he said there are more townhouses and more apartments being built in Wakulla County - the more dense development that 1000 Friends supports in some areas to maintain open space in other areas.
"There is a growing recognition that more dense development" is needed in Wakulla County, Freeland said.
Scientists say development, septic tanks and Tallahassee's wastewater spray field already may be causing problems at Wakulla Springs. The state park swimming area has become choked with weeds and algae as nitrogen levels have soared.
UF's GeoPlan Center projected growth based on the existing development patterns, so the study assumes more sprawl in rural counties as people build homes on larger lots - unlike Leon County and other more urban counties.
The Nature Conservancy, The St. Joe Co. and A Duda and Sons Inc., a south Florida farming company, helped pay for the study.
Chris Corr, St. Joe's chief strategy officer, said the study helps create a picture of the future growth facing Florida. He said the development company is doing the kind of planning to protect special areas that 1000 Friends of Florida wants.
"I hope that other landowners and local governments across the state of Florida will promote the same," Corr said.
The company, which is developing SouthWood and Southside in Tallahassee, also is involved in an ongoing fight with some residents to allow 3,440 homes in eastern Franklin County.
According to the study, urban development would increase from 6 percent to 13 percent. Agricultural land would shrink from 19.5 percent to 12.5 percent.
Florida's conservation lands would hold steady at nearly 11 percent.
Conservation groups want the Legislature to extend the state's land-buying program after 2010 and increase spending from $300 million to $1 billion a year. But some rural officials balk at putting more land in public ownership.
To listen to a portion of the 1000 Friends of Florida news conference or to read an executive summary of the report, go to Tallahassee.com.
Studies Foresee a Crowded FloridaThat's the "frightening" future Florida will face by 2060 - just 53 years away - unless the state makes dramatic changes soon in its approach to growth management, leaders of the environmental group 1000 Friends of Florida said Wednesday as they released a pair of studies on the issue.
Existing requirements for local 10-year comprehensive plans are inadequate to deal with the long-term statewide implications of rampant growth, said 1000 Friends vice president Tim Jackson.
"The governor and Legislature should say, 'Here's where we're really trying to go in 100 years,'" Jackson said. "'What are the lands we ought to protect? What's the form and character of communities that we ought to protect and preserve, and what form and where do we want new growth to happen?'"
The studies were commissioned in partnership with The St. Joe Co., Florida's largest private land owner and one of the state's biggest developers; A. Duda and Sons, a major agribusiness, and The Nature Conservancy, another environmental group.
"The 1000 Friends of Florida 2060 population scenario is a useful look into what the future could be if we don't take planning and plan implementation seriously," said state Department of Community Affairs spokeswoman Alexis Antonacci. But she added "There are many factors working to change those trends."
The first study by the University of Florida's GeoPlan Center forecasts the state's population will double to 36 million by 2060 and chew up 2.7 million acres each of agricultural land and natural habitat.
Only the Panhandle and adjacent Big Bend area would retain significant open space. Southeast Florida would be almost one solid urban area with a band of development extending across the peninsula to Fort Myers on the southwest coast.
Neither the threat of hurricanes nor soaring insurance rates and property values are expected to dampen Florida's growth, Jackson said.
"The sun's going to keep shining in Florida," he said.
A second study, by Georgia Tech's Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development, recommends ways to avoid the scariest parts of the forecast.
Among other recommendations, the Georgia Tech study proposes a new policy for converting rural lands to urban use that would thwart sprawl by setting aside sectors for high-density development while preserving most vacant property for agriculture, open space and nature.
Antonacci said her agency already is developing such policies.
Inverness city council approves land annexation
By Dave PieklikThe Inverness City Council agreed Tuesday to allow a family to seek voluntary annexation into the city, amid plans of redeveloping the 165 acres of land they own.
The council voted 4 to 1 to pass an ordinance allowing the Roscow family to pursue annexation of the property off East Turner Camp Road. The property, which borders the Tsala Apopka lakes chain, is classified as low intensity coastal lakes, according to city records.
The family intends to seek a Comprehensive Plan Amendment in the future to change the land use designation, according to their annexation petition. The Sept. 7 petition did not indicate what they intend to do with the land, which consists of a single home and farmland.
That concerned Councilwoman Sophia Diaz-Fonseca, who cast the lone vote against annexation. She said she didn’t like making a decision without having all the information.
“I’m just really in a quandary here. I really don’t know what to think,” she told the council.
Before the council voted, City Manager Frank DiGiovanni said the situation was not like other cases where several businesses or homes would be involved. “This is dirt,” he said, adding it was a bit of a role reversal for the city with people looking to annex into Inverness, and not the city looking to annex land.
Diaz-Fonseca said county code sets prerequisites for land development, including the protection of wetlands and density limits. She asked if the environment would be protected if the land was annexed.
DiGiovanni said the land would be protected, and part of the protection would be to ask the property owners to add water and sewer service to help protect the lakes. Development Services Director Ken Koch added the current land use designation would remain until an amendment is made.
He also said it was too premature to discuss what will be done with the land.
Speaking on behalf of the Roscow family, attorney Clark Stillwell said the family has owned the land, which was used to raise cows, since the 1940s. He said they love the land and it was a hard decision for them to seek annexation.
“This was not something they easily entered into,” Stillwell said.
An eventual public hearing will allow city residents to discuss the annexation plans.
The council also voted to allow city staff to seek a roughly $9-million grant to help fund the construction of the city’s new sewage treatment plant. The plant is expected to cost between $ 8 million and $10 million.
The grant would come from the Department of Environmental Protection’s Florida Small Community Wastewater Facilities Grant.
DiGiovanni said the new plant is something that has to be done, adding, “There’s no turning back.”
The council also agreed to renew a lease with the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office for an 889-square-foot office space it uses in the Inverness Government Center. The lease, which charges $19 per square foot with annual 5-percent increases, runs through Sept. 2011.
Impact fees focus of county meeting
By Terry WittAs Citrus County grows, more vehicles travel on county roads and more schools are constructed.
Growth is expensive.
But who should pay the bill for the expansion of public facilities caused by the county’s growing population? And should growth pay for itself?
Those questions inevitably bubble to the surface whenever the Citrus County Com-mission proposes raising impact fees, as it has this year, and the questions will be part of the debate today at an impact fee workshop.
County commissioners assess impact fees on new residential and commercial construction. A consultant for the commission has proposed substantial fee increases. The Citrus County Builders Association has hired a consultant to challenge those numbers.
The county’s consultant, Tindale-Oliver & Associates, will defend its proposed fee schedule at the workshop. The CCBA’s consultant, Govern-ment Solutions, will argue the fees are too steep.
The number most often cited in news stories is the proposal to raise the total impact fees for a single-family home to about $17,000. But the commercial fee numbers also have upset builders. The figure most often cited on the commercial side is the impact fee of about $130,000 for a 1,000-square-foot fast food restaurant.
Kirk Sorenson of Government Solutions sent the county his latest draft analysis of the county’s impact fees Wednesday, suggesting the commission adopt a fee level at 40 percent of what Tindale-Oliver is recommending.
The report said Tindale-Oliver’s proposal would nearly triple residential impact fees in less than two years. Commercial fees also would triple or quadruple in some cases.
“We just want something fair,” Sorenson said.
Development Services Director Gary Maidhof said the latest draft analysis from Sorenson arrived the day before the workshop, and he said it “has put us in a difficult situation.” He doubted staff or commissioners would have time to read and digest the complex information.
Maidhof also took issue with a sentence on page 6 of Sorenson’s report suggesting the commission adopt impact fees at the level recommended in Sorenson’s report.
“I would strongly discourage the board from adopting a report from someone other than a consultant hired by the county,” Maidhof said, noting it could leave the county open to legal challenges.
Maidhof said he believes commissioners will have to address four considerations in today’s workshop.
* Do they believe Tindale-Oliver’s numbers sound and legally defensible?
* Did Tindale-Oliver base its numbers on the best information available?
* Is the Tindale-Oliver report accurate?
* Is the Tindale-Oliver fee schedule right for this community?
Maidhof said he asked for specific guidance from commissioners at the end of the workshop. He wants them to set a date for when the fees take effect, and set the grace period. He will want to know if commissioners want an affordable housing element and whether they want phasing of the fees or the use of a tier structure.
He said his impression is that commissioners have a good handle on what Tindale-Oliver is proposing. However, he has concerns about the late arrival of the report from Sorenson.
County to focus on land use
By TONY
BRITT tbritt@lakecityreporter.com
In a county that is growing as fast as Columbia
County, land use and zoning laws are always a special concern.
County officials are scheduled to discuss proposed land use changes
during their county commission meeting 7 p.m. tonight at the Columbia
School Board Complex Auditorium, 372 W. Duval St.
Dale Williams, county manager, said officials are scheduled to review
several text amendments to the county's comprehensive plan and land
development regulations as well as zoning amendments and adoption of
subdivision plats during the meeting.
The county's comprehensive plan is required under the Florida Growth
Management Act.
“It's comprised of 13 elements and one of those elements is future
land use,” Williams said. “Zoning has to be supported by the
comprehensive plan or it is an invalid zoning request.”
Land development regulations are the tools that are used in order to
implement anything that deals with the regulatory side issues.
The first proposed text amendment to the comprehensive plan at tonight's
meeting - which will be a first public hearing - is where officials will
discuss changing the level of services of all state roads, principal
arterial roadway segments, with a “C” level of service to a Level D.
According to state guidelines, Level D roads are roads where more trips
are allowed per lane mile. The designation given by the state is
important because once a road reaches its maximum level of service and
there is concurrency because of growth pushing the designation to
another level, there will be a moratorium placed on whatever is
impacting the road.
Columbia County doesn't currently have any Level D or Level C roads.
“These are based on statewide averages and you don't really see that
here,” Williams said. “Where you start to see that is in
metropolitan areas.”
The change in text was prompted by a recent Senate Bill 360
proportionate fair-share workshop where local officials discussed
reducing the level of services on certain roads as required by the bill.
The land development regulation amendment scheduled for discussion at
the meeting will be to amend the special temporary use permit for the
number of mobile homes and length of time for a family member in
agriculture-zoned areas, where the density is one unit per five acres.
“There is a provision in our ordinance that says if you have a family
member and that family member is under your care, you can let them live
on the property with you,” Williams said. “Typically it's when there
is an elderly parent or something of that nature, where we can allow a
second home to be placed on that property.”
In other business, the commission is scheduled to:
n Select a new chairman and vice chairman as part of the county's annual
reorganization meeting;
n Discuss a funding request by the Gainesville Juniors Athletic
Club/Lake City Volleyball.
Water shortage may be coming
Regulators could crack down on watering scofflaws if rain doesn't come
Unless the dry season gets a lot wetter, Southwest Florida could face a water emergency within months.Just in case, water managers are looking now at methods to conserve, pumping water from an already low Peace River and pumping an extra 2 million gallons of water a day out of the Carlton Wellfields in Sarasota County.
Residents might expect more water conservation messages this season, and may even see some stricter enforcement.
"It's like preparing for the hurricane season," said Pat Lehman, executive director of the Peace River/Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority.
While a full-fledged drought might not hit, there are troublesome indicators as Florida's dry season starts, including low reservoir levels and low river flows.
The regional water authority -- which supplies water to Charlotte, Sarasota and DeSoto counties, and North Port -- normally has a 200-day-plus water supply in underground wells in DeSoto County this time of year. But rainfall over the last year has been 16 inches below normal and the supply is down to 133 days.
That's still a four-month supply of water, although because it's in underground wells and has higher levels of minerals it will be "hard" water, Lehman said.
The worry is if there's not enough rain between now and April to significantly raise river levels.
In 2001, Southwest Florida suffered through its worst drought on record.
Emergency state measures allowed counties to take tough conservation steps, such as fining residents who illegally watered their lawns up to $500.
Earlier this year, Sarasota County passed a new law to allow county enforcers to fine watering scofflaws even before a state-declared water shortage.
Sarasota County Commissioner Shannon Staub, a member of the water authority's board, expects Sarasota County to begin fining people soon.
"Start cranking up the enforcement," she said.
The situation could be saved by a wetter-than-normal winter, which is expected because of the current El Niño, a warming of Pacific waters credited with driving away hurricanes. And after back-to-back years of trying hurricane seasons, most folks were grateful.
But the weather pattern also kept away the rainfall that recharges the region's rivers and aquifers.
In 1997-98, the last year Florida experienced a strong El Niño, 12 inches of rain fell in less than 12 hours in November, causing flooding across the region and more than $2.6 million in property damage, most of that in Sarasota County.
A wet winter would quickly calm concerns of water officials.
"If that happens that's great but it's not really something you depend on," said Michael Molligan, spokesman for the Southwest Florida Water Management District, a state regulator that last week gave its director the power to enforce emergency water-shortage measures if necessary.
Normally, at this time of year, the Peace River authority has more than 4 billion gallons of water in its wells.
But that's down to 2.5 billion gallons at a time when water usage starts going up, reaching around 20 million gallons a day after the influx of winter residents.
Besides lowering aquifers for those on wells, the record drought in 2001 also led to an active wildfire season and made it more difficult to fight the fires.
The pending water shortage is catching some people by surprise, Commissioner Staub said.
"People say, "How can we have a water shortage? We had all that rain this summer," she said.
While coastal areas received average, or even above average rainfall earlier this year, rainfall was rare in areas that drain into the Peace River like DeSoto and Hardee counties.
Residents worried about any more damage to river
"The [Rainbow River Ranch] property is currently being appraised," Miller said Tuesday. "The appraisal will take about 45 days. Once we have that appraisal back, we can consider our options and then get with the landowner and go from there."
The property, which has been at the center of a three-year battle between a developer trying to go forward with building and residents and environmentalists worried about how development will further damage the waterway, includes 1.3 miles of Rainbow River bank that is part of the 260-acre former Cubbage farm property just northeast of the County Route 484 bridge.
The Rainbow River is a 5.7-mile-long spring-fed river. With 50 percent of the area developed, Rainbow River Conservation Inc. officials said during their annual meeting Saturday at the Rainbow Rivers Club, they would prefer to see that percentage grow no further.
Despite recent setbacks in their goal of protecting the Rainbow River, RRC members were upbeat Saturday.
"Today, we are forging ahead," said Burt Eno, elected that afternoon as president of the group.
He said that if the DEP appraisal of the Rainbow River Ranch property should lead to the property being purchased by the state for preservation purposes, that would be separate from RRC's efforts, but it would be something the group "would applaud."
The RRC has put together an 80-page plan outlining strategies with which to preserve and protect the Rainbow River. The plan was sent to the state Oct. 10, where it will be reviewed and rated, hopefully with a top priority, Eno said.
"Now we have to convince the Acquisition and Recreation Council in Tallahassee that this is worthy," RRC member Paul Marraffino said.
Marion County Commissioner Andy Kesselring told RRC members Saturday he planned to request that the commission initiate an area-wide planning study.
"We're not sure exactly what the limits are going to be," Kesselring said. "But it's basically the whole springshed, and it would be in combination with the springshed ordinance that we're working on."
This would help get all the involved parties together for "what really needs to happen" to protect the area's waterways from further damage, Kesselring said.
Marion County Commissioner Andy Kesselring told Rainbow River Conservation Inc. members that he would ask the commission to initiate a planning study to figure out "what really needs to happen" to protect the area's waterways from further damage.
The filthy rich make our home unaffordable
BY FRED GRIMM
fgrimm@herald.com
The luxury condo towers we hate . . . that's what we do.
We build soaring glass cylinders stuffed with ostentatious amenities and impenetrable security and Jacuzzis and stratospheric views so rich entrepreneurs and their trophy wives can gaze down on the rest of us, peon specks scurrying in and out of our low-rise bungalows.
That's what we do. That's our special niche in the new global economy.
We suck up to the rich.
These buildings barge into quaint neighborhoods, chase out the middle class, usurp the sky and look as natural to the streetscape as I would in ballet tights. Protesters show up at city hall to raise hell, but find that the builder bought off the homeowners' association and lobbyists packed the room with flunkies in ''We Support Progress'' T-shirts, ready to filibuster the public hearing.
Civic activists, if they can find a politician's ear, worry that we're forsaking affordable housing to build multimillion-dollar condos that no one who actually works in South Florida can afford, even with the most insane of the new mortgage schemes.
Maybe we shouldn't look at these structures as homes but as the nearest thing to factories that South Florida can muster beyond those of the Cheesecake kind.
TOWER OF BAUBLES
We manufacture towering baubles for the rich.
Over the last few months, The Miami Herald told how residents of the old Cameo Apartments, a middle-class enclave between Biscayne Boulevard and the bay, had been tossed out of their homes into an impossible rental market to make way for a luxurious 43-story tower. When the condo project faltered, squatters moved in until the building was demolished. The Cameo was an outrageous symbol of middle-class displacement along a 100-mile strip from Miami to West Palm Beach.
But construction workers building these luxury towers make far more than workers earn in manufacturing states. Folks up there make sofas for $10 an hour or Fords for $17 an hour. Our factory workers make penthouse suites for $20 to $30 an hour. I've been seething about South Florida's ruthless development for years, but I've never actually asked a middle-class construction worker whether he'd rather live in a $475 apartment at the Cameo or make $30 an hour building a high-rise playhouse for the rich.
THE TRANSIENT RICH
The finished product provides a part-time bed for the transient rich, who sleep through rush-hour traffic, whose kids attend private schools in Connecticut, who summer in Maine and ski in the spring in Aspen, who pay full-time taxes for a part-time residence.
Maybe we've been deluding ourselves. We have a woefully under-educated workforce, an underfunded school system and a state Legislature that filters science through the Old Testament. Florida's in no position to get a jump on other states in the new technologies.
But what we have -- that Silicon Valley doesn't -- is the Nicky O. We have the Hilton sister's boutique hotel on Ocean Drive, with cupcakes on every pillow, and other luxury hotels for the rich and the fabulously, conspicuously rich. South Beach's average room rates now exceed a stay in New York or Hawaii. Meanwhile, South Florida's occupancy rate has stayed flat while Orlando hotels, dependent on the vagaries of the middle-class, are down 15 percent.
MEGA-YACHTS
A planned mega-yacht port on Watson Island will provide 48 berths for boats and egos too big for most cities. Each visit from those floating money factories, according to a 2002 study by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, injects $140,000 into the local economy.
Two percent of the world's population now control 50 percent of the world's worth. Our economic plan is pretty simple -- suck up to the 2 percent.
The others . . . let them eat Nicky O cupcakes
Bill on drilling off Gulf Coast delayed in House WASHINGTON — House and Senate leaders hit snags Wednesday in assembling a tax package that was expected to carry offshore drilling legislation to President Bush's desk. The snags muddy the path of the bill to allow oil and gas drilling in 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico.The problems were not settled by Wednesday evening.
The tax measure would extend an array of expired and soon-to-expire tax breaks that are considered popular in both chambers. Trade and Medicare issues also in the package, however, were dividing the House and Senate on Wednesday. Negotiators worked on the kinks, but Republican aides were worried by evening.
The situation is a study in the last-minute flurry of legislative maneuvers that often consume Congress in the final hours of a session, especially a lame-duck session.
GOP leaders had scheduled a vote on the drilling bill for Tuesday under expedited procedures requiring a two-thirds majority, but they canceled the vote when it became clear the measure lacked enough support. Because a filibuster threat looms in the Senate if the drilling measure is changed, House leaders have searched for ways to pass it without amendments before adjournment at week's end.
The two-thirds majority procedure was one way to do that. Adding the bill to the tax measure would be another. Moving the drilling bill on its own could open it to complications, but that option remains.
The Senate has passed the drilling bill but would have to approve it again if it became part of the tax measure.
The drilling bill would open 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico, beginning 125 miles south of the Florida Panhandle and 234 miles west of Tampa Bay. The buffer would last until 2022. The bill would share 37.5 percent of royalties from new drilling with Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, but not Florida.
Florida lawmakers have been divided about whether the Senate bill or a more expansive House bill would be better for their state.
The tax bill, however, is expected to include a bright side for taxpayers in the Sunshine State if it receives and passes final votes. The package should revive an expired deduction of state and local sales taxes for states such as Florida that don't have income taxes, which are deductible on federal tax forms.
Warblers disappearing, but not enough to be 'threatened'
KNOXVILLE,
Tenn. -- The plight of the disappearing cerulean warbler, a bright blue
migratory songbird embraced by the environmental community, is not grave
enough to warrant protection as a federally threatened species, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service has concluded.
In a decision published Wednesday in the Federal Register, the agency
acknowledged that the numbers of warblers summering in 33 states in the
eastern and southern United States and wintering in South America have
declined as much as 70 percent since the 1960s.
However, the agency said, "We do not believe this species is
likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future" and
therefore was rejected for the second time since 1994 for listing as
threatened and protected under the Endangered Species Act.
"What the agency has done is miss an opportunity to use the power
of the act to keep the species from getting to the brink of
extinction," said D.J. Gerken, a Southern Environmental Law Center
attorney in Asheville, N.C.
The action came on a petition filed in 2000 by the Southern
Environmental Law Center and 27 other regional and national conservation
organizations, including the National Audubon Society, Sierra Club and
Defenders of Wildlife.
"I just think it is real sad if we are in a condition that can't
take action today to save a bird that we know is declining and we know
will continue to decline," said Greg Butcher, director of bird
conservation with the Audubon Society.
"In short," the Fish and Wildlife Service concluded, "a
species with a current population of perhaps a half a million birds and
quite possibly more, declining chronically by 2 to 4 percent annually, is
neither in danger of extinction now or likely to become in danger of
extinction in the near future."
The agency said current estimates suggest there might still be tens of
thousands of cerulean warblers left in 100 years.
The primary threat is loss of habitat -- mature deciduous forests,
particularly in a core area for breeding on the Cumberland Plateau in
eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, southern and western West Virginia,
southeastern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania.
Logging, urban development and most recently mountaintop coal mining
are usurping the turf of the 4.5-inch-long, three-tenths of an ounce
ceruleans, who like to nest high up in the trees and dine on the insects
that would defoliate the hardwoods.
Mountaintop coal mining and valley fill operations in Kentucky and West
Virginia alone could cost the species 1.4 million acres or 10 percent to
20 percent of its core range by 2012, the Fish and Wildlife Service
decision said.
The agency said the bird's wintering grounds in the northern Andes of
South America, some 2,500 miles to the south, also are diminishing in part
because plantations there are converting from shade-grown to sun-grown
coffee.
Still, the agency said numerous conservation and monitoring efforts are
under way to help the warbler and it will continue to participate in them.
Twenty-three states have identified the bird as a "species of
greatest conservation need."
"This isn't the end of our involvement," Robyn Thorson, the
agency's Midwest regional director, said in a statement. "Our intent
is to move forward with conservation efforts so that decades from now,
we're not once again faced with a listing decision."
Meanwhile, agency spokeswoman Georgia Parham said the cerulean warbler
remains protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, under which
"you can't kill it, steal its eggs or destroy its nests."
A "threatened" designation, however, could elevate the
warbler's plight into consideration for federal permitting of such things
as clear-cut timbering and mountaintop mining.
The environmental groups will consider an appeal, Gerken said.
"The bird is the name of the game," he said. "We are
trying to protect this songbird."
------
On the Net:
One-time use photo, Fish and Wildlife Service decision and audio of
cerulean warbler available at Southern Environmental Law Center: http://www.southernenvironment.org
Fish and Wildlife Service: http://www.fws.gov/
The city of Tallahassee will continue its participation in a proposed
coal plant in Taylor County without pressing its three partners to
consider cleaner, more advanced coal gasification technology - at least
for now.
By a 3-2 vote Wednesday night, commissioners adopted an energy plan that
follows staff's recommendation for the city to stay involved in the Taylor
Energy Center while keeping track of emerging technologies and
anti-pollution legislation. The plan also incorporates a biomass plant,
energy conservation and renewable energy, and repowering the Hopkins 2
natural-gas plant, elements commissioners have agreed to in the past.
City leaders say the decision does not commit Tallahassee to being involved in the coal plant past 2008, when it's expected to have its permits. But the vote upset the two dozen or so residents of Leon and Taylor counties who showed up wearing blue to display their concern for the coal plant's health and environmental impacts.
"We'll be into it pretty heavily in two years," said John Whitpon, a retired state employee from Tallahassee. "We're digging our hole deeper and deeper."
Commissioner Andrew Gillum, who voted against the staff recommendation along with Allan Katz, said the city, which would own a 20 percent stake in the plant, should press its partners to consider a coal gasification plant.
"If they don't take us seriously ... we sold ourselves and the community a bill of coal," he said.
But other commissioners pointed out that the partners - utilities that serve Jacksonville, Walt Disney World and several small Florida municipalities - consider coal gasification to be an unproven technology.
"I think the train has kind of left the station on this," said Mark Mustian. "I just don't see that being a real viable option."
ELEMENTS OF THE CITY'S ENERGY PLAN
Read about City Commission actions. 2A On July 13, 2005, commissioners voted 4-1 (Katz opposed) to participate in the Taylor County coal plant through its permitting phase. Up to $6.4 million has been authorized; $1.55 million has been spent to date.
On Oct. 17, 2005, commissioners unanimously approved the repowering of Hopkins 2 for $130 million.
On Aug. 23, 2006, the commission unanimously approved an energy savings/renewable energy plan that's expected to cost $292 million between 2007 and 2025.
On Oct. 11, 2006, the commission voted 4-0 (Gillum absent) to approve a 30-year agreement for a 38 Megawatt biomass plant.
Orange Blossom Hills faces county assessment.
That fee would be levied on top of a Municipal Services Taxing Unit assessment the community already agreed to pay for road improvements.
"Many of these residents would not be able to financially afford the burden you are considering placing on them for .Ê.Ê. water and sewer," Randall Jones, director of the Orange Blossom Hills Homeowners Association, told the commission at Wednesday's workshop meeting.
He said elderly residents might have to choose between paying the assessment or buying medications.
"We are, at this time, prepared to seek aggressive legal counsel in this matter," Jones said.
Although sensitive to the 110 homeowners who will be affected by its decision to install water and sewer lines, the commission remained firm in its desire to begin a program to get Marion County residents on centralized systems.
"We do have a concern about how it impacts you," Commission Chairman Stan McClain told the Blossom Hills residents. "At the same time, there has been a commitment by the board to try and provide a water and sewer system through all of Marion County so that we can make sure we have an adequate, clean and safe water supply for a long time for residents who come long after we are gone.
"That's what we are wrestling with. We will keep your position in mind," McClain said.
Orange Blossom Hills, located off U.S. 441 near County Road 42, was selected as the first location to launch the effort because new roads, paid for at property owners' expense, will be built in about a year. Officials thought it would be wise to install water and sewer lines at the same time, rather than go back at a later date and rip up the roads.
Also, the targeted property is largely undeveloped. Right now, there are 854 buildable lots.
The problem is that 110 homeowners in Orange Blossom, who have wells and septic systems, are facing an assessment they did not expect.
Commissioners asked consultant Gerald Hartman of Hartman Consulting and Design to explore different funding options.
"I think it was unanimous that it's not going to be $14,000," Commissioner Andy Kesselring said. "I think we have to find some other way."
Hartman said that water is estimated to cost $4.57 million and sewer $3.5 million. He said the Utopia development will pay to bring the main sewer lines past Orange Blossom Hills.
Hartman said that, because the county is hoping to install water and sewer at the same time as the roads, which is expected to begin in about a year, there is enough time to secure grants.
Hartman said the residents in the unpaved area could pay $100 a month for 20 years, but the interest would be considerable. Or they could opt to pay it in a lump sum or pay it off early, as people sometimes do with home mortgages.
"So much could happen in 20 years," Commissioner Charlie Stone said.
Questions were raised as to whether ad valorem taxes could be used or if there could be a countywide charge, since there would be a countywide benefit to having sufficient, clean water.
County Administrator Pat Howard said the county's current water and sewer system only has 28,000 customers.
"I have a great deal of concern for them," Commissioner Jim Payton said about the residents. "On the undeveloped lots, I am not particularly concerned about. We will add value to their property."
Commissioner Barbara Fitos said the county commission needs to be thoughtful.
"We will be setting precedent," Fitos said. "We must get this right. This will not be the last group of people or homeowners we will deal with."
The commission will conduct another workshop on this issue in January.
Susan Latham Carr may be reached at susan.carr@starbanner.com or (352) 867-4156.
County Cuts Lawn Watering In Face Of Near Drought
Published: Dec 7, 2006
TAMPA - Hillsborough County residents will return to once-weekly lawn watering since commissioners tightened restrictions Wednesday in the face of near drought conditions.
With this year's rainfall far below normal for the Tampa Bay area, rivers are barely flowing and the aquifer is more than 2 1/2 feet lower than this time last year.
The lack of rain caused October water use in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco to surge 13 million gallons a day above October 2005. Most of the increased demand came from Hillsborough residents.
The Hillsborough County Commission's decision returns people in unincorporated Hillsborough to the same once-weekly lawn watering schedule commissioners lifted in August when the county returned to twice-weekly watering rules.
The new restrictions will take effect Dec. 16 and continue through June 29, though they may be lifted earlier.
The tighter rules apply to all residents of unincorporated Hillsborough, except those using reclaimed water.
Wednesday's action puts Hillsborough's watering restrictions in line with once-weekly rules in Tampa, Pasco, Pinellas and New Port Richey. St. Petersburg remains on the twice-weekly schedule.
The lack of rain has pushed the Tampa Bay region into abnormally dry conditions considered the precursor to drought.
Most parts of Hillsborough County, especially inland areas, have received 12 to 20 inches less rainfall than normal this year.
Pasco and Polk, which replenish the Hillsborough and Alafia rivers, are even worse off, ranging from 16 to more than 20 inches below normal.
The two rivers, which are at about half their normal flow for early December, are fed mainly by springs, said Jeff Dobur, a hydrologist at the Southeast River Forecast Center.
The puny flow of the Hillsborough River, Tampa's main water supply, forced the city to tap the Tampa Bypass Canal for 1.2 billion gallons in November.
At the same time, with the rivers unable to provide much water, Tampa Bay Water took 1.4 billion gallons from its reservoir to supply residents in the three counties.
Even with a chance for some rain today, the outlook for relief is bleak, Dobur said.
About the only hope for drought-busting rain this winter and spring comes from an El Nino, where water in the Pacific Ocean is warmer than usual and affects weather.
The El Nino shifts part of the jet stream to bring more rainfall to Florida during the winter and early spring.
Instead of fronts moving south across the continent to Florida, they come from near Hawaii across the southern edge of the United States, picking up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico before reaching Florida.
The El Nino is why the Center for Climate Prediction forecasts above average rainfall in Florida for the next three months.
The effect of the El Nino hasn't been seen yet, said Florida climatologist David Zierden.
"We really haven't seen that pattern set up yet," he said.
The effect of a typical El Nino begins showing up in December and increases rainfall through March by about 30 percent, though that can vary.
The last El Nino, in 2002 and early 2003, did boost rainfall by nearly 11 inches from December through March, but virtually all of the excess rain came in December.
In January, February and March of 2003 rainfall totaled just less than an inch below normal.
"Every El Nino is different," Zierden said.
Reporter Mark Holan contributed to this story. Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at njohnson@
SPRINKLING SYSTEM
MONDAYS: Addresses ending in 0 or 1
TUESDAYS: Addresses ending in 2 or 3
WEDNESDAYS: Addresses ending in 4 or 5
THURSDAYS: Addresses ending in 6 or 7
FRIDAYS: Addresses ending in 8 or 9
Locations with no address, such as common areas and shopping centers, may water on Fridays. All watering must be done before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m. New lawns may be watered daily for 30 days and every other day for the next month. You may hand-water plants or use drip irrigation on landscape beds at any time. For information, call (813) 275-7094, go to hillsboroughcounty.org/water and click "Restrictions & Conservation," or call (813) 274-6800 during business hours.
tampatrib.com or (352) 544-5214.
County to receive millions in road projects over next six years
Susan K. Lamb, Democrat Managing EditorSuwannee County's roadways will be under construction or
resurfacing in the coming five years, according to the Florida
Department of Transportation's (FDOT) 6-year road plan.
During a meeting held at the Suwannee River Water Management District's
office on CR 49 in Live Oak this week, FDOT announced the following road
projects for Suwannee County, which will total in the millions of
dollars:
2007 - Interstate 10 from Madison to US 90 - preliminary
engineering/resurfacing of 5.861 miles of interstate
2008 - I-10 at US 129 interchange - landscaping
2007 - Interstate 75 at SR 136 - landscaping
2007/09 - I-75 from Columbia County line to Hamilton County line,
resurfacing preliminary engineering and construction of 3.656 miles of
interstate
2007 - US 90 at CR 49/101st Road - traffic signals (these are already up
and flashing in preparation for being turned on permanently in the near
future)
2007/09 - SR 247 from Branford to Columbia County line - preliminary
engineering/construction of 10.7 miles, widen and resurface
2007/08 - SR 249(US 129) - from Branford to McAlpin - preliminary
engineering/construction/widen and resurface 12.889 miles
2007/09 - SR 49(US 129) - preliminary
engineering/construction/resurfacing of 2.755 miles from Gilchrist
County line to US 27
2007/08 - SR 51 (US 129 from US 90 to I-10 - preliminary
engineering/construction of 2.928 miles/resurfacing
2007 - SR 10 (US 90) at Houston Avenue, drainage improvements
2010 - US 129 @ Railroad - Historic restoration/miscellaneous
construction
2007-08/09 - US 90 - Drainage improvements east of Live Oak
2008 - Clayland Road (193rd) - Resurfacing 8.879 miles from SR 51 to CR
136
2007/08 - CR 248 from SR 249 to SR 247 - Safety project/preliminary
engineering /construction
2007 - CR 417 from US 90 to CR 136 east, widen/resurface existing lanes
of 4.220 miles of road
2007 - CR 49 at US 90/Railroad signal
2007 - Mattress Factory Road from SR 51 to 169th Road/resurfacing of 5
miles
2007 - Mt. Olive Baptist Church Road from CR 417 to Hogan Road -
resurfacing of 3.240 miles of road
2007 - Suwannee County Safe Routes to Live Oak elementary and middle
schools/sidewalk preliminary engineering
2007/08 - Walker Avenue at Pinewood Drive - Interconnection construction
2008 - 133rd Road from 153rd Road to CR 132 - Widen and resurface
existing lanes of 4.9 miles of road
2007 - 208th Street from US 129 south to end of pavement - Resurface
6.892 miles of roadway
2008 - 256th Street (Bibby Road) from CR 49 to CR 137 south - widen and
resurface existing lanes of 3 miles of roadway
2007 - 54th Street from US 129 to CR 795 - Widen /resurface existing
lanes of 12.237 miles of roadway
2010/2011 - Sixth Street from Johnson Street to Walker Avenue -
preliminary engineering/construction of sidewalks
2008 - 89th Road from CR 136 to CR 136A - Resurfacing of 3.242 miles of
roadway
In addition to the road projects, the FDOT will construct additional
hangars at the Suwannee County Airport, in addition to a number of other
aviation projects in 2008, 2009, 2001 and 2012. FDOT will also continue
to provide operational and administrative assistance to the county
during the next six years.
During the Nov. 28 meeting, projects for Suwannee, Hamilton, Madison,
Lafayette and Taylor counties were also announced
Push is on for regional transit action
WILL VAN SANTPublished December 7, 2006
It's almost 2007 in Tampa Bay, one of the country's most congested metropolitan areas.
Yet the region, which has aspired to host international events like the Olympics, remains a transit infant.
Try taking a public bus from New Port Richey or St. Petersburg directly to Tampa International Airport. You can't.
Pinellas County Commissioner Ronnie Duncan, who becomes commission chairman in January, hopes progress can be made by a new regional transit organization.
As outlined in a proposal by Pinellas County Administrator Steve Spratt, the group would include public officials and transit agency representatives from Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties.
Despite an array of local transportation planning groups, Duncan said discussion among the governments has been limited, even as growth patterns are transforming the region.
"The time has come for us to begin addressing these shifts between where people live and people work," he said. "We've just never had the dialogue."
The transit organization idea comes as Tampa Bay leaders appear to be realizing that new directions are needed.
Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio has become a voice for area light rail and has succeeded in getting the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority and Hillsborough Area Rapid Transit, which operate trolleys and buses, to talk about regional cooperation.
And state Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, is sponsoring legislation to create a regional transportation authority. The authority, which has the support of the Tampa Bay Partnership, an economic development group, would include leaders from Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Manatee and Sarasota counties.
Galvano's authority would have the ability to create public-private partnerships and issue bonds to pay for large transportation projects. He said the group could coexist with Duncan's smaller transit organization, but the last thing Tampa Bay needs is more talk that never leads to actual remedies.
"We are literally choking on plans in our region," Galvano said. "At the end of the day, you still need an entity that can fly at 40,000 feet and solve problems."
Some area leaders have been cautious about Galvano's proposed authority. They fear that more urban areas like Pinellas and Hillsborough will be forced to share too much power with rural counties like Citrus.
But Duncan said he supports Galvano's legislation and sees his own regional transit organization as playing a complementary role.
While the memo that outlines the organization raises the possibility of the group itself becoming an authority one day, at first it would not have the power to levy tolls, collect taxes or issue bonds.
Duncan said a simple interlocal agreement is all that's needed to get things started. And once Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco are at the table, he said, the governments can begin to tackle seemingly modest goals like providing direct, intercounty bus service to TIA, or moving cruise ship visitors from Tampa to the Pinellas Beaches.
"We've all had enough of planning," he said. "I think it's time to get down to the nuts and bolts and get some transit enhancements on the ground."
Pasco County Commission Chairwoman Ann Hildebrand and Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe both said they support Duncan's proposal and will bring the idea before their respective boards for consideration.
Hildebrand said she believes her colleagues will get behind the idea; Sharpe said he may face some resistance, but that it was time to end turf battles that have doomed other attempts to improve area transportation.
"The citizens seriously look at us as elected officials to get rid of all of the parochial thinking and work together," Sharpe said.
Times staff writers Bill Varian and Janet Zink contributed to this report. Will Van Sant can be reached at 727 445-4166 or vansant@sptimes.com.
BARTOW - County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to deny plans
for a 2,200-home subdivision on a 2,608-acre tract at the eastern edge of
the county near Lake Hatchineha.
Wednesday's vote, which followed a six-hour public hearing, overturned the
Planning Commission's 4-2 approval of the project on Sept. 12.
The case came to the County Commission after area residents appealed the
Planning Commission's decision.
The commission's vote was a boost to county planners, who had recommended
denying the project because it was too far away from county services,
would overwhelm rural roads for which no improvements are planned and
would introduce intense growth prematurely into a still relatively rural
area of the county.
The project was proposed under a section of the county's growth plan that
county planners have raised questions about that allows intense
development in rural areas under certain conditions.
The project was proposed by Hatchineha Ranch LLC of West Palm Beach.
The developer's lawyer Jack Brandon, who declined comment after the vote,
argued that the development deserved approval because it set aside extra
green space and set aside land for a school, a fire station and a new
county park.
"This is an opportunity to get ahead of the curve,'' Brandon said.
"You wouldn't be getting any of that without a planned
development."
He said the alternative was to break the property into a hodgepodge of
five-acre lots with no provisions for public services.
But area residents picked apart Brandon's arguments.
Showing a series of aerial photographs of the area, resident Tommy Addison
said there were already growth problems in nearby Poinciana, a
megadevelopment established before modern development regulations took
effect, and he didn't want to compound the problem.
"We've already got a mess out here," he said.
Resident Sam Cardinale Jr. argued the project would cause a severe impact
on county taxpayers.
He said his conservative estimate for providing police, fire, ambulance,
school and road improvements came to $75 million, only $24 million of
which would be covered by impact fees.
""There's a $51 million shortfall," he said. "It's
fiscally unsound."
He argued the donation of land for schools and fire stations were of
little use if the county didn't have the money to build the facilities.
Bob Nettleton, another area resident, said he could see no benefit to the
county from the development.
Nettleton, the former longtime city attorney in Haines City, said he was
unimpressed with Brandon's threats about five-acre lots.
"Don't be fooled by that," he said.
Area residents weren't the only ones objecting.
Erik Egensteiner, a state park biologist, said park officials have
concerns about the development's impact on the adjacent 8,250-acre Alan D.
Broussard Catfish Creek Preserve State Park, which was established in 1991
and contains 20 federally protected species.
He said his concerns ranged from the ability of residents in the proposed
subdivision to coexist with the prescribed fires needed to keep the
preserve's ecosystem in good shape to the threat of exotic plants and
domestic pets harming wildlife and habitat within the preserve.
Wednesday's vote initially appeared to be headed for approval after County
Commissioner Jack Myers quickly moved for approval with additional
conditions shortly after public testimony ended.
"I believe the applicant has more than met the requirements,'' Myers
said, arguing it was a common sense decision.
But Commissioner Jean Reed said she was afraid approving this development
would continue the same mistakes commissioners had made in other parts of
the county.
She referred to the estimated cost of just widening Hatchineha Road.
"To four-lane 18 miles of road at $10 million a mile is a lot of
millions,'' she said.
"I want to lower taxes, not raise them."
Commissioner Randy Wilkinson said he was concerned about the uncertainties
as well.
"It's a great development in the wrong place," he said.
Commissioner Sam Johnson defended the project, implying opposition was
simply catering to the large crowd of opponents who appeared to take up
the majority of the seats in the commission chambers.
He said the developer should get credit for trying to do the right thing,
adding if he can't solve the traffic and utility problems, the project
will go no further.
Commission Chairman Bob English said he believes in creative development
and the need to accommodate a growing population and liked many aspects of
this development.
But he said he was reluctant to overrule county planners without more
evidence.
"I have to have good proof they were wrong,'' he said. "Today I
didn't hear that."
Instead, he said he heard some "iffy" proposals to fix the
problem that didn't impress him.
He compared it with the situation in Four Corners.
"Part of the problem we had there was the hope that retail would
follow and the roads would be built, but that wasn't the case,'' he said.
After he spoke, Myers quickly withdrew his motion.
"I can count votes," he said.
Residents were surprised and pleased by the vote.
"They made the right decision and we're very appreciative that they
took the time to listen,'' Addison said.
Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@theledger.com.
On The Block: A Bid For Condo Sales
Published: Dec 7, 2006
J.P. King, the real estate auction house known for selling off luxury properties across the country, is gearing up to sell 100 condominiums this weekend in Tampa, and is predicting many more condo auctions in Florida next year.
The company, based in Gadsden, Ala., plans to auction off 100 units at The Hamptons at Tampa Palms, an upscale development in New Tampa that was built as an apartment complex and later converted into condominiums.
Carl Carter, a spokesman for J.P. King, said many condominium builders and converters didn't anticipate the current cool-down housing sales.
"Frankly, they overbuilt the market," he said. As a result, many developers now have surplus condominium units - either newly built homes or former apartments that have been converted - that they couldn't sell, he said.
Carter predicts a wave of condo auctions next year.
The Hamptons auction "is the first of a lot of what you're going to see in 2007," he said.
"There will be more in Florida probably than anywhere else."
Bay Communities, the Palm Coast-based company that bought The Hamptons in the summer of 2005 and converted it to condominiums, said the auction is an experiment. If it's successful, the company may try to auction off more properties at The Hamptons, manager Bill Harkins said.
"I thought it would be fun," he said. "It's something I haven't done yet."
Of the 100 units Bay Communities will auction off, 40 will have no reserve price, which means there's no minimum price for bidders.
The Hamptons has sold only about 56 units, which means about 260 remain on the market.
Carter said developers must cover taxes, interest and maintenance costs on unsold properties, which is a strong incentive to sell them off.
"While you may not sell all of them at the original asking price - and you probably won't - when you factor in getting out from under those carrying costs, you probably come out ahead," he said. "If you do a little math, it's not hard to figure out that the profit can deteriorate [by] sitting on costs they didn't expect to have."
Unexpected Liens, Unpaid Bills
Some previous buyers say they've encountered unexpected liens and unpaid bills at The Hamptons.
Nancy Alexander said she was looking for a little extra income a year ago when she bought two condominiums there. Instead, she said, she found unpaid tax bills, a growing list of liens, and the kinds of hassles she hasn't seen before in her 20 years as a local real estate broker and investor.
Complications continue to mount, and bills and liens keep arriving, she said.
"We still hate going to the mail," she said.
Alexander blames most of the problems on the company that converted the property from apartments to condominiums, Bay Communities.
She said she has hired a lawyer to look into the issues, and has spent about $10,000 so far.
She also wants law enforcement officials to look into Bay Communities' dealings.
"The money isn't going to matter to me anymore," she said. "I don't want anyone else harmed."
Harkins dismissed the complaints about his firm.
Paying Their Dues
Bill Edwards, president of the Tampa Palms Owners Association, said The Hamptons didn't pay dues last year and owes the organization about $50,000.
"It is my expectation that they will pay what they owe before they try to sell the units," he said. "I know things are taking place, but I don't know what's been finalized."
Harkins said the unpaid bill will be settled in the next day or two.
The Hamptons also had an unpaid tax bill. It was paid off in October.
Officials at J.P. King said they're aware of past problems at The Hamptons, and said buyers in Saturday's auction shouldn't have to deal with any unexpected liens or other encumbrances.
"The important thing to us is that we're able to have a straight-forward sale and provide titles to everyone who buys," spokesman Carl Carter said.
"We've looked at these issues, and everything looks fine."
The Hamptons auction will be held at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay on Saturday. Registration starts at 8 a.m., and the auction begins at 10 a.m.
Reporter Dave Simanoff can be reached at dsimanoff@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7762.
Land Set Aside For Bears Is Rezoned
Published: Dec 7, 2006
ARIPEKA - The Southwest Florida Water Management District is hedging its bets in northwest Pasco County. The district on Tuesday night restored rights to develop 90 acres off Aripeka Road and U.S. 19 for what officials called better negotiating power in a potential land swap with the nearby Sun West Mine.
At a public hearing, county commissioners unanimously approved changing the designation on almost 200 acres - which includes land earmarked for Florida black bear habitat - from conservation to high-density residential use. As part of the same action, the board redesignated 358 acres from residential to conservation status.
Sam Steffey, Pasco growth manager, said he failed to give Swiftmud written notice that the county intended to change the land-use designation in a biannual comprehensive plan amendment. County Administrator John Gallagher said Tuesday's action was needed to correct a county error and to further a land exchange between the district and NG Development Corp.
"They are trying to swap out land with a developer," Gallagher said. "They cannot work out a very good deal if the land-use designation is conservation."
Fritz Musselmann, district land resources director, wrote to the county asking that high-density residential development rights be restored. Swiftmud officials said the district never sought to have the land designation changed and that the mine owners' plans to develop have changed priorities along Pasco's northern coast.
Michael Molligan, the district's communications manager, said Wednesday that Swiftmud has not decided whether to do the land exchange, but officials are in discussions with Sun West Acquisitions. Having a conservation designation would "harm our negotiating position" in a potential land exchange.
The mine owners' plans to develop have prompted district land managers to re-evaluate their property along the coast, Molligan said. The district owns more than 1,400 acres in the area, including a sea bird sanctuary. The property Sun West has offered is adjacent to that land and could make a larger contiguous preserve.
"The 94 acres [reverted for development] is directly above land planned to be developed by Sun West," Molligan said. "There's not going to be much of a corridor there."
Sun West has three major tracts in the area, including a mined area the owners plan to develop as a major resort and marina. Molligan would not say which parcel is under consideration for a swap, but any official exchange of land would have to be approved by the district's governing board in public meetings.
Workers recently found bear tracks on Sun West property considered for the resort, and developers have designated a bear preserve on most recent plans. Such a designation would have to be reviewed by federal, state and local agencies, as would the plans for a hotel, golf course, condominiums, canals and retail shops.
Members of the Gulf Coast Conservancy, which pushed to make the 94 acres off Aripeka Road and U.S. 19 part of a bear corridor, argued at Tuesday's public hearing that development will disrupt habitat stretching from Citrus and Levy counties to the Sea Pines neighborhood in Hudson, where bears are thought to migrate. Conservancy members said Swiftmud was aware of the land-use change this year and did not formally object.
Julie Wirt, a former president of the conservancy, said her group was led to think the conservation designation would be "in perpetuity."
"Sun West Mine spoiled the plans for preservation of the corridor," Wirt said. "I believe this will begin a domino effect in dividing the large tract of land you voted to add" to the bear corridor.
Mac Davis, a trustee of the conservancy, said the land in question is "environmentally sensitive land that must not undergo development." He said the land swap should be considered as part of an overall development of regional impact when the mine owners seek to build the resort.
Chief Assistant County Attorney Barbara Wilhite said Swiftmud was not notified and the district has the prerogative to do with its land what it wishes. "It's Swiftmud's property. It's not our property," Wilhite said.
Commissioners agreed.
"It sounds like we made a mistake, and we need to fix our mistake," commission Chairwoman Ann Hildebrand said.
County poised to file suit against city
By TONY MARREROlmarrero@hernandotoday.com
BROOKSVILLE — The city of Brooksville and Hernando County brokered a fragile accord Tuesday that could head off litigation over Brooksville’s recent annexation of some 900 acres.
The county’s legal department will prepare paperwork for litigation but wait to file it until Mayor David Pugh has a chance to ask his fellow council members to make it a priority to meet with the county in the next 10 to 12 days to hash out its concerns.
“I’m confident we can sit down and work these issues out,” Pugh, who had seen the item on the commission’s agenda and showed up for the discussion, told the board.
Three of the four commissioners were ready to give the legal department the go-ahead to file a placeholder lawsuit against the city when Pugh asked for more time.
The county has 30 days from the date the city approves the annexation to file a suit. A placeholder suit reserves the right to sue, but the county can choose whether or not to serve the suit.
The city approved the annexations Nov. 20. That gives the county until Dec. 19 to file a suit. County attorney Garth Coller “strongly recommended” Tuesday that the commission make the decision that day.
“You never leave it to the last opportunity, otherwise you’re asking for trouble,” Coller said.
The county is concerned that the annexations of the two parcels, located near the city’s southern boundary, were done so without proper planning for road and other infrastructure needs, which county officials contend could place undue financial burdens on taxpayers.
“If we don’t (file the suit), we’re putting taxpayers in jeopardy,” commissioner Chris Kingsley said.
There will have to be some shifting of schedules by council members. At the city council’s regular meeting Monday night, several members said their schedules wouldn’t accommodate a meeting until after Jan. 1.
Reporter Tony Marrero can be contacted at 352-544-5286.
Annexation of 165 acres advances
JOHN FRANKPublished December 7, 2006
INVERNESS - The City Council took the first step Tuesday night toward annexing a prime chunk of undeveloped lakeshore property despite many unanswered questions about the owner's plans.
The 165-acre parcel, between Turner Camp Road on the west and Little Lake Henderson on the east, sits undisturbed except for a vacant home and some cows.
Real estate attorney Clark Stillwell, on behalf of owner John F. Roscow III, asked the council to bring the property within city limits for the purpose of hooking up to city water and sewer lines. It was a procedural move, he said.
But council members know a development proposal looms. The main question on their minds at the meeting: What's planned for the valuable property?
Stillwell said the owner didn't have any plans to sell or develop the property yet - at least none Stillwell could disclose.
"Just look at this right now as dirt, and we are expanding the borders," said City Manager Frank DiGiovanni.
With that advice, the council voted 4-1 to annex the property. Final approval is expected at the next council meeting.
Troubled by the vague proposal about a piece of environmentally sensitive land, council member Sophia Diaz-Fonseca cast the dissenting vote.
"I have a problem with the lack of information and how we have to do everything after it's annexed," she said.
The property is classified by the county as "low intensity coastal lakes," a designation that limits the number of houses that can be built. Diaz-Fonseca said the city's zoning classifications are not as stringent and she's worried that development could harm the fragile lake.
Inverness resident Hilbert Staton, a former city development director who lives on Little Lake Henderson, echoed those concerns. He called Stillwell a very shrewd individual and said he saw through the smoke screen. "The reason they need to be annexed is they need density on their property," he said.
He asked the council to scrutinize future development plans to preserve the quality of the lake.
John Frank can be reached at jfrank@sptimes.com or 860-7312.
Leaders vote 3-2 to allow 477 new homes
TIMES WIRESPublished December 7, 2006
The plans for 477 homes on Grantham Ranch narrowly won a 3-2 approval late Tuesday by the County Commission. Neighbors complained that a flood-prone community will get worse because of the project - a fear reflected in the "no" votes from Commissioners Jack Mariano and Pat Mulieri. But officials with the project said they are designing the development with drainage standards that are higher than required and should help the area. The project will be on 611 acres west of Interstate 75 at Old Pasco Road.
Starbucks stakes claim on new site
Here comes another Starbucks. As surely as the sun soaks Florida, the coffee chain with the green-black-and-white emblem can be counted on to follow the hot spots in real estate. Its latest Pasco outlet, a 2,100-square-foot cafe, will be built at the southeast corner of the Suncoast Parkway and State Road 54. That's also where a new hotel and three new restaurants - Doc Green's Gourmet Salads, Up The Creek seafood restaurant and Carrabbas Italian Grill - are about to join the 688-acre Suncoast Crossings development
Lake Hutto gets okay despite traffic worries
A commission majority sees a donation of land and money for schools as a reason for approval.
By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published December 6, 2006
TAMPA - After several delays, the Hillsborough County Commission has approved Lake Hutto, one of the largest developments in the county's history.
It could add 3,200 homes to the Lithia area west of Lithia-Pinecrest Road, plus 360,000 square feet of retail and office space.
It also will add traffic to already congested roads, a point argued over the past year by critics of the plan, many of whom live in nearby subdivisions such as Mason Oaks and FishHawk Ranch.
Commissioners decided by a 5-2 vote to rezone the 1,100-acre planned development, and relax limits in the county's comprehensive plan and allow twice as many houses in one of Lake Hutto's three parcels.
New Commissioners Rose Ferlita and Al Higgenbotham opposed the request by Pulte Homes.
Ferlita cited the potential for worsening the existing traffic gridlock as the reason for her thumbs-down vote.
"They're putting one poor decision on top of another," said Kelly Cornelius, 35, who lives east of FishHawk and opposed the development.
Pulte will contribute 32 acres for an elementary and a middle school and park, and donate $3 million for a wing at Newsome High, to be used for afterschool programs.
Had commissioners denied the request, Pulte still could have built 2,258 homes under its agricultural and planned development zoning, a fact that weighed heavily in Commissioner Mark Sharpe's decision.
"For a difference of a thousand units, we get the school sites and $71 million," Sharpe said, alluding to Pulte's promise to underwrite $27-million for road improvements in Eastern Hillsborough County.
Part of that money will be used to widen Lithia-Pinecrest and Bell Shoals roads to four lanes, said Bob Campbell, a transportation director for the county's department of planning and growth management.
The county is now widening Boyette Road to four lanes from Balm Riverview to Bell Shoals Road. The commission's vote included a stipulation that the county study the costs of widening Boyette Road to six lanes.
Lithia-Pinecrest, Bell Shoals and Boyette roads all rate an "F" on the county's grading scale, Campbell said.
"There is really no relief in sight for those roads" said Bob Gordon, the county transportation director.
About 30 people attended the commission meeting wearing red shirts signaling their opposition to Lake Hutto.
"I don't know how you can do worse than an 'F' road," said Cornelius, of FishHawk.
Brenda Fewox of Lithia, 45, said it takes her 25 minutes to drive 11 miles to reach Interstate 75 on her way to work.
"We're going to have a bottleneck at the mouth of that development," she said.
Andrew Meacham can be reached at 813 661-2431 or ameacham@sptimes.com.
Breaking ground, then a break
CHUIN-WEI YAPWiregrass Ranch will celebrate, though it can't begin construction until approval is given.
Published December 6, 2006
WESLEY CHAPEL - Wiregrass Ranch plans to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the residential portion of its 5,100-acre development at 10 a.m. Dec. 13 - although final approval for the project could be weeks or months away.
Invitations from the developer, Pulte Homes, were sent to County Administrator John Gallagher and the county growth management office, among others.
The ceremonial shovel would hit dirt before Pasco County holds a public hearing on Wiregrass' "development of regional impact" designation, which must be issued before construction can begin.
Pasco had scheduled a hearing for Dec. 19, but county officials said that hearing might be delayed - perhaps as late as March - so planners can have more time to review the final paperwork.
Pulte Homes officials did not return a call for comment Tuesday.
Crews are allowed to do site preparation work, such as grading and debris removal, but can't start building without the development of regional impact approval.
Staff members of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council have recommended approval for the development, and the council is expected to give its blessing Monday. After that, the regulatory ball falls into the county's court, because it is the county that must issue the final development order.
Pulte is slated to build 8,500 single-family homes, 4,000 multifamily homes, 2.7-million square feet of stores and 1.2-million square feet of offices for completion by 2016. More multifamily units might follow depending on future regulatory approvals.
Pulte's groundbreaking is for the residential component of Wiregrass and is not linked to the $105-million Shops at Wiregrass, said Leslie Resnick, a spokeswoman for the mall.
In November, Jim Richardson, vice president of Forest City Commercial Group, which is co-developing the Shops at Wiregrass, said he wants to break ground on the mall as early as possible in 2007.
The mall's developers, which also include the Goodman Co., hope construction will start in the spring.
That's also when Pulte plans to start building the extension of State Road 56, a critical road for the mall, Wiregrass' homes, and neighbors nervous about the additional traffic.
Chuin-Wei Yap covers growth and development. He can be reached at 813 909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.
County experiencing growth of different kind
PALM COAST -- Resident Rick Besaw can't
wait to have a grocery store just a mile from his home. Neither can
Rosemarie Miller.
Both south Flagler County dwellers now shop at the Winn-Dixie on
State Road 100 for groceries, or the county's only discount
superstore, Wal-Mart, seven miles to the north along Interstate 95.
Both those options carry the possibility of getting snarled in
traffic.
So the two are thrilled that a new Publix is scheduled to open
Thursday closer to their driveways.
But the Florida-based grocery chain isn't the only retailer
expanding in Flagler . The county's first free-standing Starbucks is
slated to start serving up frozen and frothy coffee drinks by early
January, company developers said.
Planning experts predict these openings are just the beginning of a
wave of new stores that are headed to Flagler County.
"We're becoming an emerging shopping mecca," said Palm
Coast's special projects manager, Ira Corliss. "A lot of national
companies are paying attention to us now."
In the next two years, development experts predict major retailers
will break ground on new locations all over Flagler County. While
there are rumors of a SuperTarget and Bed, Bath & Beyond along
State Road 100, construction plans are more solid for Cobblestone
Village, a retail development planned for an area just behind the Palm
Coast Wal-Mart. The shopping village should have a Lowe's home store
and Belk clothing store, said Corliss and David Lusby, vice president
of Palm Coast Holdings, a major developer in Flagler County.
Lusby's company designed Town Center, a massive mixed-use
development just north of State Road 100 and west of Interstate 95
that they hope will become downtown Palm Coast. The new Publix will
mark the first opening for the development, but Lusby also said his
company is working with DeLand-based Epic Theatres to start building a
12 to 14 screen movie theater that would open by the end of next year.
All the development talk is not just happening within Flagler
County, though. Retail experts who track the industry agree that the
area is ripe for some new shopping outlets.
University of Florida Professor Barton Weitz, who directs the
college's Miller Center for Retailing Education & Research, said
one attraction for national companies is that so many people are
moving to Palm Coast and there are few chains in the area.
"They like to be the first in there and get a good location,
so they can have a monopoly before their competitors get in," he
said.
That's one advantage that Wal-Mart has today, said Besaw, a
49-year-old Wisconsin transplant who lives in the Pine Grove
neighborhood.
"I want anything that competes with Wal-Mart so they'll drive
the prices down," he said. "And I'll definitely go to (the
new) Publix because it will only be a mile away."
Another UF professor, Grant Thrall, a location consultant for
retail companies, said the spurt of openings in Flagler also signals
there is more to come.
"Whether it's a super Wal-Mart or smaller retailers, they make
decisions on a nest of stores -- not just one at a time," Thrall
said. "Starbucks won't just locate where they can put one. They
want to have six."
Thrall also said it's no surprise that stores in Flagler are
clustered in the area along Palm Coast Parkway. He said businesses
like to locate close to one another because consumers cling to areas
where there is a high likelihood they will have a successful shopping
trip. So retailers believe that by providing an atmosphere where
people can go to stores and restaurants in the same area, they will be
more successful.
While Thrall said most retail experts are familiar with Flagler
County, Palm Coast is not the only place he anticipates a surge of
stores.
"You can count on more stores everywhere in coastal
Florida," he said. "Florida's growth is just beginning --
the real estate lull is just temporary."
Construction
drought
Building of new homes in Marion dips
in November
The county's Building Department issued 252 permits for single-family homes in November, down from 374 in October, said department spokeswoman Tracy Gale.
Last month's tally is the lowest number of permits for single-family homes issued by the county within the last calendar year - 40 percent lower than the 423 permits issued in November 2005 when the county was in the midst of a building boom.
"Historically, in November and December there have been dips," Gale said. "You couple that with the general slow down and there is a little more of a dip than normal."
But Building Department Director John O'Connor said he expects an uptick soon that's in keeping with a cyclical market.
"I expect it to pick back up again by the spring," O'Connor said.
Francine Schaefer, executive director of the Marion County Builders Association, attributed the dip to two factors. First, investor purchases for new homes are down, possibly due to reports of slumping sales nationally. And second, she said, many area builders rushed to push their plans through the Building Department early in the year in before impact fee increases went into effect in July and November for roads and schools.
"Now (the builders) are having to play catch up and actually build those homes," Schaefer said.
Schaefer said that the county's market is still in "growth stage" although that growth has plateaued.
"That growth curve is not on a steady incline but it is staying at a steady rate," she said.
Still, Schaefer said the area's home builders aren't complaining of a slowdown.
"I've talked to several of our custom home builders and their market is as strong as it's ever been," she said.
The Building Department could be gearing up for another rush of builders looking to get in their permit applications before Jan. 1, when a new transportation impact fee will raise the fee for a single-family home to $5,462 a month.
Adding to the pressure is that the Growth Management Bureau - which includes the Building, Planning, Zoning and Municipal Service Taxing Unit departments - is scheduled to shut-down from Dec. 22 to 29 in order to move from its current home off Southeast Third Street to a 55,000 square foot facility next to the county library on East Silver Springs Boulevard. The bureau will reopen on Tuesday, Jan. 2.
However, Gale said to minimize the rush she had already sent out two notices by e-mail to more than 500 of the area's builders, architects, engineers, informing them of the bureau's impending move. Also, a notice is given on Marion County's Web site as well as the Building Department's home page.
"I don't think we'll have a huge increase like we did prior to the July impact fee," Gale said. "I think with the inventory available in Marion County at the time being, developers aren't in as big of a hurry to get more single-family home projects into the Building Department pipeline."
O'Connor believes his staff has exhausted all efforts to inform the county's most voluminous builders.
"We've done a pretty good job letting our regular volume customers know our schedule," O'Connor said. "I really don't think it will be that bad."
Richard Conn may be reached at richard.conn@starbanner.com or at 867-4045.
Appraiser loses exemption case
Ed Havill plans to appeal John Baldwin's tax victory for his honeybell grove
Stephen HudakSentinel Staff Writer
December 6, 2006
TAVARES -- John Baldwin's honeybells should taste even sweeter this year.
Baldwin, a Fern Park lawyer, won a hotly contested legal dispute last week with Property Appraiser Ed Havill -- and a tax break for his tangelo grove on State Road 19 near Tavares.
The ruling grants Baldwin an agricultural tax exemption and cuts the lawyer's annual property-tax bill for the grove from about $4,200 to $100.
Havill, concerned about what he decries as the increasing abuse of Florida's "greenbelt" law to dodge taxes, vowed Tuesday to appeal the decision by Circuit Judge G. Richard Singeltary.
Though the tax loss to the county is relatively small, Havill has vigorously fought Baldwin -- as he has other agricultural claims he deems questionable -- because he considers the nearly 3-acre grove to be an example of the growing abuse.
"Somebody's got to do something," Havill said. "We're getting ripped off as taxpayers."
Havill had fought Baldwin's request for an agricultural exemption, accusing the lawyer of twisting the law to create a tax shelter until he was ready to develop the grove commercially.
Baldwin's acres sit in an emerging commercial district.
Baldwin, who calls the grove's honeybells the most satisfying fruit he has ever tasted, denied he is cheating taxpayers or bending a law that was created to help farmers.
He said he may someday develop the land but added he has no immediate plans.
"Until then, I feel I'm entitled to the exemption," Baldwin said.
The judge apparently thought so, too.
State law allows government property appraisers to deny tax-saving agricultural classifications for properties that cost more than three times their agricultural value. The greenbelt law presumes such high-priced land won't be used for farming.
Havill's records show Baldwin paid $294,000 for the grove in September 2004 -- about $112,000 an acre. That's more than 10 times its agricultural value in Lake County.
At that price, Baldwin cannot possibly operate a grove profitably, Havill said.
But the judge pointed out that Baldwin had not only bought the grove but also its irrigation equipment, and he continues to operate the grove like former owner Hammock Citrus Corp.
Singeltary, who listened to testimony from the two sides in August, also noted in his written order that the tangelo grove's yield has been more fruitful under Baldwin's ownership.
Nonetheless, Havill said he plans to appeal the ruling to deter tax dodgers.
"They're not farmers," he said. "It's not just this case. If we lay down and play dead on these, more will come and all that will happen is their tax burden gets passed onto the rest of us."
Havill said requests for agricultural exemptions increased again this year -- as did his denials and applicants' appeals.
The board's decisions can be appealed by Havill or the property owner.
Stephen Hudak can be reached at shudak@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5930.
Which way will road go?
Either way, the Saxon Boulevard extension will displace residents.
Tanya CaldwellSentinel Staff Writer
December 6, 2006
DeBARY -- Jay Stanfill had trouble finding his home on an aerial map Tuesday afternoon. That's because the place where his mobile home was supposed to be was covered by a retention pond for the western extension of Saxon Boulevard.
"We figured this was our house forever," Stanfill, 63, said outside his holiday-decked home on Florence Boulevard while holding a map of the county's plan. "It's a shame what they're doing to us out here. It doesn't make sense."
Volusia County officials have been working with the state to extend Saxon Boulevard west of U.S. Highway 17-92 by 1.6 miles to get motorists to a proposed station for commuter rail through Central Florida.
The problem is that Stanfill's mobile home and 15 other residences in Terra-Alta are in the way if the county opts for one of two possible routes for the new leg of Saxon Boulevard.
The other route would take out 32 mobile homes in the Highland Country Estates and King's Lake developments.
County officials say their options are limited because of a geographic obstacle -- a 200-foot-wide easement dotted with Florida Power & Light transmission lines.
"There's not another corridor or path to get from Point A to Point B," County Engineer Gerald Brinton said. "They [FPL officials] don't want our roads going under their power lines . . . except to cross it, or we can put some retention ponds there."
The prospect of losing so many homes prompted a turnout of more than 200 people at Florence K. Little Town Hall on Tuesday for a workshop about the project and details about commuter rail, which is supported by Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties, Brinton said.
Brinton said officials are leaning toward running the road north of the easement into the edge of Stanfill's Terra-Alta neighborhood because it would take fewer homes than the other option. But the other option -- running the road south of the easement -- may end up being easier because the residents in Highland Country Estates and King's Lake rent from a single landowner. Lots in Terra-Alta are individually owned.
Barbara Leaper, 74, a King's Lake resident for five years, said she won't have any choice but to move back to Massachusetts if officials buy her out of her home.
"I'm just very upset. . . . This was to be my last hurrah," said Leaper, who moved to the community from Deltona after her husband died. "It's not just a house. It's a home. And everybody takes care of everybody."
The project is expected to cost more than $12.1 million, which county officials are still hoping to raise before commuter rail starts in 2009, Brinton said.
So far, county officials have received $4.1 million in state grants and reserved $1.8 million in county funds for land acquisition and engineering costs.
About half the cost of the project will be for construction, though the county doesn't have those funds -- about $6.2 million -- in the budget yet.
"We've got enough to cover everything up to construction," Brinton said.
"In a year and a half, we've got to have that money to build it."
Brinton said county officials will try to make buying out the homeowners "as painless as we can," working with each property owner to negotiate a fair price and help out in relocation as necessary, he said.
County officials could come up with a decision about which route to select in early February, Brinton said.
The County Council makes the final decision.
Stanfill, who just put up Christmas decorations around his house last week, said he doesn't understand the whole situation.
His wife, Vanessa, has been crying herself to sleep at night since they heard the news last week, he said.
"When you find out they're going to take your house," said Stanfill, "who would want to put up Christmas lights?"
Tanya Caldwell can be reached at tcaldwell@orlandosentinel.com or 386-851-7910.
FDOT outlines transportation plans
By TROY
ROBERTS troberts@lakecityreporter.com
The Florida Department of Transportation outlined its
plans for transportation in Columbia and surrounding counties Tuesday
night at a public hearing.
FDOT must update its tentative five-year work plan annually based on
requests from local governments and the public. Tuesday night's meeting
outlined the plans for Columbia, Levy, Dixie, Gilchrist, Alachua,
Bradford and Union counties.
Interstate 75 seems to be one of the most benefited roadways that passes
through Columbia County as FDOT looks to perform several resurfacing
projects along the busy highway.
In the 2008 fiscal year, FDOT plans to resurface the five-and-a-half
mile strip of roadway between north of U.S. Highway 441 to just north of
State Road 47. The cost will be more than $9 million.
FDOT is currently resurfacing
I-75 between State Road 47 and U.S. Highway 90.
A little further out, FDOT plans to resurface I-75 between I-10 and the
Suwannee County line in 2010. The cost would be approximately $15
million for the 3.7-mile strip of roadway.
Bill Henderson, planning and environmental manager for FDOT, said the
agency hopes to resurface I-75 from Marion County all the way to the
Georgia line in the future. As part of a 25 to 30 year plan, he said
FDOT hopes to schedule public meetings on ways to improve the busy
roadway.
Improvements to several state and county roads also were discussed at
the meeting.
Resurfacing projects on U.S. Highway 441 from I-75 to County Road 252
and U.S. Highway 41 from Interstate 10 to the Hamilton County line both
showed up as projects to be undertaken during this fiscal year. The
resurfacing of State Road 247 from the Suwannee County line to
I-75 was also listed under this fiscal year.
The resurfacing of U.S. Highway 90 from State Road 100 to the Lake City
Community College was listed as a 2011 project.
Several bridge replacements, Rose Creek Bridge at Little Road and Rose
Creek Bridge at Walter Little Road, were listed as fiscal year 2008
projects. Olustee Creek Bridge at County Road 245 is scheduled to be
replaced in 2011.
FDOT will be taking written comments on its plans for roadways in
Columbia County until Dec. 29. A statewide public hearing will take
place in Tallahassee on March 6.
Daytona board approves 'density bonus' for developers
DAYTONA BEACH -- Rewarding developers and
putting more feet on the street downtown seemed like a good idea Tuesday
to a city board.
Members of the Downtown-Ballough Road Redevelopment Area Board, in
two 7-1 votes, recommended giving developers a density bonus.
The bonus would allow developers to exceed the city maximum of 40
residential units per acre and build up to 50 units per acre.
"There's an opportunity here," said Sam Dunn, board
chairman. "If a developer feels he needs more density, there's a
tradeoff we could make to benefit the downtown area."
To get the bonus, developers must provide public benefits, such as a
public plaza or courtyard, access to public transportation, public green
space, extensive landscaping or higher quality architecture.
"To me, I'd give them the 50 units (per acre) anyway, because we
need people downtown," said Al Smith Jr., a board member. "We
have stormwater issues here. We have parking issues here. If we can
address those issues this way, we should."
But some residents worried about the impact of more traffic and the
possiblity of setting a precedent that might extend to other areas of
the city.
"Because there is a bonus density, it's an incentive for
developers to do just that," said Chris Daun, a resident.
"What will that make the downtown area look like?"
Edith Shelley cast the dissenting vote after unsuccessfully proposing
a delay to talk about the proposal during the ongoing
"visioning" effort to develop a plan for the city. She is
chairwoman of the visioning group.
Shelley criticized some of the proposed public benefits, such as
"superior architectural design."
"Who is the judge of that design?" she asked. "I do
not believe the people see that as a public benefit."
Board members tweaked a list of the proposed public benefits
developers could provide to earn more density, expressing interest in
park improvements and little enthusiasm for affordable housing as a
tradeoff.
Density bonuses would be available for owners of properties 4 acres
or larger in the downtown and Ballough Road area from Second Street to
International Speedway Boulevard. Board members voted separately to
approve the bonuses for each area.
Tuesday's recommendation must be approved by the city and state to
take effect.
Boca Developers wants the change for its proposed Beach Street Condos
project near Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard and Beach Street. The
developer wants to downsize the condos and increase the number of units
from 413 to 510 to sell less expensive condos in response to a tighter
market.
Other beneficiaries of the proposed change include the 6.6-acre
Burgoyne family tract on Beach Street and a 4.9-acre site on Ridgewood
Avenue owned by First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, which is building
a new church at Interstate 4 and Tomoka Farms Road.
After years of trying to get residential construction downtown, there
has been progress in recent years. Construction of Wall Street Lofts is
completed. Beach Street Courtyard is under construction and The William
has been approved.
But a developer pulled the plug on plans for the 195-unit
Cosmopolitan, citing a slow condo market.
A petition has been filed in circuit court which could mean the community will soon have a new mayor and council members to run the town.
The petition calls for the court to order Supervisor of Elections Sylvia Stephens to hold an election.
Trouble is, Stephens doesn't know what the election should entail.
"Is it to decide whether to reactivate? Is it to elect officers? I don't know that the petitioner has the right to call for an election, and there are no surviving Cypress council board members who could call for one.
"I've given it over to an attorney for review," Stephens said.
Served with the petition on Nov. 24, Stephens has until next Monday Dec. 11 to respond to the document. She said she thinks those interested in re-establishing the government need to meet and make sure they've found their charter and bylaws, and have a plan for funding governmental activities, whether it be by city taxes or other means.
The governor may need to appoint board members, she said, who could then order an election.
Stephens said she doesn't know whether there first needs to be an election to decide whether to reactivate the governing body, or whether an election to select a new group of council members would be the first appropriate subject of an election.
The petitioner, Jennelle Bates, filed the paperwork in circuit court on Nov. 14 through local attorney Charles Wynn.
Included in the court file is an opinion from Attorney General Charlie Crist, in which he says Cypress appears to retain the status of an incorporated town, even through it has been inactive for several decades.
According to Crist, and in Wynn's research as well, the town was never disbursed by legislative act, which would have been the only legal method of such a disbanding.
Cypress was affirmed as a legislatively established town in 1907, although it is first referenced as such in 1903. According to the court file, board members simply stopped meeting after the mayor died in office.
In the ordinance that established the boundaries of the town, it is described as a square that extends one and one-half miles in all directions from a starting point described as "the northeast corner of Section 30, Township 4 North, Range 8 West."
Neither Bates nor Wynn immediately returned calls seeking more information on why the effort is being made to re-establish activity.
However, it may be related to a recent search by the Town of Grand Ridge for a sprayfield site. Grand Ridge is working to build a central sewer collection and treatment system that would involve a sprayfield.
Grand Ridge has looked at a potential sprayfield site in the Cypress area, and that possibility led to a number of community meetings in Cypress in which several people objected to the location.
Agreement reached on Punta Gorda project
At one point, a 10-minute cooling-off period was called. But the end result was an agreement that moves the Harbor Inn Resort & Yacht Club forward.
Developer Joe Suriol would break ground in April 2008 on the project's hotel along the Peace River in Punta Gorda.
"There is a welcoming new spirit on the City Council on getting things accomplished," Suriol said.
During a workshop meeting, city officials agreed to help Suriol attain permits from the state to build his marina, to provide temporary parking for his hotel while luxury condos are being built and to delete wording in an ordinance that says the city would revoke building permits for Suriol if he did not meet deadlines.
Officials said they plan to approve the new agreement at today's City Council meeting.
Plans for Harbor Inn include a 90-room hotel, 114 condominiums, 82-slip marina, a restaurant, marina store, a spa, shops, offices, a seawall along the Peace River and the riverwalk.
The city also agreed to extend the deadline in which Suriol has to start building his marina. The developer still is working to get permits from the state and does not know at this time when he will receive them.
Once he has them, Suriol has 30 months to complete the marina. Previously he had to have the marina completed by July 2009.
Before Tuesday's workshop, Suriol said he was ready to go to court. Suriol is building on the site where the Holiday Inn previously stood.
In October, the city had voted to have Suriol turn over the easement on the riverwalk, the most valuable piece of the property. With the Holiday Inn, the riverwalk was private and for hotel guests only.
Suriol has said he did not have a problem turning the riverwalk over to the city because it was understood, but he did not want to be held hostage by a deadline tied to the project.
Feeling trapped drove Suriol to file a request for a special master -- a retired judge usually -- to hear his complaint.
But the results of Tuesday's workshop likely will eliminate intervention from a special master and stop a future lawsuit. Suriol agreed to turn over the easement by April 2007 when he submits his construction plans.
It took the council three hours Tuesday to come to an agreement that satisfied both the council and Suriol.
"I think we've made some significant progress in this long day," Mayor Larry Friedman said. "It's not always going to come easy."
The Loop is closer to becoming reality
The Wilder Cos. said it has acquired the roughly 200 acres needed for The Loop -- Punta Gorda, the mammoth retail project planned for Jones Loop Road between Interstate 75 and U.S. 41.
Principal Thomas Wilder declined to say how much the land, purchased from multiple landowners, cost, but put the price tag for the whole endeavor at about $250 million.
The project includes residences, a hotel, office space and 1.2 million square feet of retail space -- well beyond the 782,000 square feet in the Port Charlotte Town Center mall.
"We have tremendous interest from department stores, movie theaters, specialty stores, restaurants," said Wilder, speaking by phone from a retail conference in New York. "We're still looking for really the premier operators."
Preliminary plans call for a Main Street-style layout with stores along two streets perpendicular to each other and flanked by parking.
Three department stores plus specialty stores, restaurants and a movie theater are part of the plans.
The developers have tweaked the design and concept for the shopping center since they initially conceived it, saying the Main Street grid and design was a reaction to "those better retailers and the small stores" they have talked to.
"We wanted to upgrade the presentation," Wilder said.
The Punta Gorda "Loop" is slightly different than other developments Wilder has branded with the same name. This one is more integrated, with office space above retail shops, for example.
One of the next steps for developers is to meet with Charlotte County planners on Dec. 7.
The company already has submitted an application and received some comments the project, which is considered a "development of regional impact" or DRI.
Wilder said it's too early to name retail tenants for the center, but said developers are looking at "middle to upper-middle" retailers.
The retail mix could include higher-end specialty stores and big box retailers such as Target.
The developers will likely consider retailers that have signed on for other Wilder projects, including Kohl's, Ann Taylor Loft, Borders and Pac-Sun.
The Wilder Cos. is putting The Loop together at an uncertain time for the real estate market in Florida, but Wilder said potential tenants haven't shown any qualms about the market.
"All of the retailers now who are looking at Southwest Florida are long-term thinkers," Wilder said. "They realize that this is the kind of market where they need to carve out their position."
Leaders review sinkhole options
DAVID DeCAMPRegulating repairs and inspections is discussed, but builders warn about the cost.
Published December 6, 2006
DADE CITY - Pressing to ease the insurance crisis, county commissioners are looking into regulating sinkhole repairs and requiring potentially costly sinkhole inspections on new home sites.
Builders warned such stringent measures could spike home costs in a county already facing a housing slowdown.
But commissioners said they have to examine options to address sinkhole claims - particularly fraudulent ones - that are causing Pasco residents to face some of the highest premiums in the state. Pasco leads the state in sinkhole claims, causing whopping increases in rates and prompting proposals in the Legislature to reduce claims.
Spurred by newly elected Commissioner Michael Cox, who unsuccessfully sought an insurance task force, the board agreed to the work session Tuesday. Another session will be at 10 a.m. Thursday in New Port Richey, where the commission will hear from Jacksonville attorney Tim Volpe and New Jersey actuary Allan Schwartz on their work to win lower rates in Pasco from state regulators.
They also will discuss the sinkhole repair and inspection ideas in greater detail - measures that could stabilize rates over the long term, but wouldn't bring immediate relief to soaring premiums, county officials said.
Currently, no permit is needed to do sinkhole repairs. Builders are not required to test for sinkholes except near retention ponds and roads. The property appraiser's online records - perused by everyone from Realtors to people shopping for homes - do not indicate which sites have a history of sinkholes or repairs.
Building inspectors can look into suspected problems, but the oversight is so loose a "heel test" is used, county officials said. The inspector digs a heel into the soil to test how compact it is.
"I'm a big guy, so I give better tests," engineering director Jim Widman said, only half-jokingly.
To fill those gaps, commissioners discussed three ideas:
- Require permits showing when a sinkhole is detected and repaired. It would give the public insight into which properties are fixed and which are not.
"One of the things that's going on here, and it's affecting all rates, is there's no trackings," said Wil Nickerson of Holiday, a member of reform group Homeowners Against Citizens Florida.
- File the sinkhole repair results with the county clerk and show some of that information on the property appraiser's Web site. The office tracks some sinkhole properties reported to it - more than 1,400 counted so far - but currently doesn't post that information on the Web.
- Require builders to do a basic test on soil compaction near foundations for new homes. A minimum cost is $250 to $300, development director Cindy Jolly said. Engineer Jon Moody, president of Heavy Metal Development, said more extensive tests could cost $2,500 to even $8,000.
Cox said it may be worth the cost to find a sinkhole up front, instead of finding it later and facing tens of thousands of dollars in repairs.
But two leaders of the Pasco Building Association - Southern Image Homes president Alex Mourtakos and Avid Engineering president Robert Fudge - said developers already bore for soil samples and do other tests, though not on every lot. None want the frustration and cost if a sinkhole turns out to be under a new home, they said.
Higher costs from tests will be passed along to consumers, they said, though Fudge noted a $250 cost would not be onerous.
They also questioned what would make a gap below ground, common in Florida, into a potential sinkhole. And who would determine that? And what will happen if inspection costs soar?
"If we keep going at the rate we're going, we're going to make it so nothing is even affordable," Fudge said. "All we'll keep doing is escalating the price."
David DeCamp covers can be reached at 727 869-6232 or ddecamp@sptimes.com.
Northlake land price too high, county says
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Palm Beach County commissioners decided Tuesday that $1.5 million was too much to pay a group of well-connected developers for a 10-acre vacant tract on Northlake Boulevard, voting unanimously to start eminent domain proceedings instead.
The parcel, which sits on the main thoroughfare leading to Mecca Farms, is owned by Coconut Northlake LLC, whose partners include six well-known lawyers, engineers and developers such as William Boose, the West Palm Beach attorney facing federal political corruption charges, and Greg Fagan, the former chairman of the Business Development Board.
The county needs their land so that a large drainage pond can be built in preparation for the widening of Northlake Boulevard from Seminole Pratt Whitney Road to Coconut Boulevard, a step that's needed to develop Mecca Farms and absorb existing traffic from The Acreage, County Engineer George Webb said.
Taking the land through eminent domain will mean a judge or jury sets its value, Webb said. It could ultimately prove even more costly to taxpayers, because the county must pay the legal fees and other costs of the landowners.
The land itself is zoned for one home per 10 acres, although the developers have tried to get it changed to commercial. Commissioner Mary McCarty asked whether the county really was going to pay $1.5 million for "one house."
The county's own hired appraiser, Frank J. Cardo of Anderson & Carr Inc., estimated the parcel's worth based on both commercial and denser housing development nearby, which would have allowed 8 or 9 homes on the tract, Webb said.
McCarty questioned the appraisal's validity. "I think the taxpayers are getting hosed here," she said.
In July, however, McCarty herself had voted in favor of changing the parcel's land use to commercial. She said she had no idea at the time that the county needed part of the property.
That July vote came just as the developers were to negotiate the sale of 10 acres of their land, and it gave them great leverage in demanding $1.5 million.
"Had I known at the beginning of the comprehensive planning process, I would not have voted for it unless they carved out a piece of it," McCarty said. "Otherwise, what kind of idiots are we?"
Land-use changes require a two-step process that involves a sign-off from the state Department of Community Affairs. The state frowned on the deal.
Soon after, federal prosecutors charged Boose with helping ex-County Commission Chairman Tony Masilotti hide a $1.3 million profit from an unrelated land deal.
The commission changed course and unanimously voted against the land-use change.
Commissioner Warren Newell noted that the county's tax appraiser found that the entire tract, almost 30 acres total, was worth about $414,000. He recommended taking the property through eminent domain
Gulf oil drilling bill hits setback in session's last days WASHINGTON - House Republican leaders abruptly canceled a vote Tuesday on legislation to open 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling. The delay prompted concern among some supporters and hope among foes in the final days of the congressional session.GOP leaders and aides said they remain confident the bill, negotiated with Florida's two senators, would pass this week. How that would happen was not entirely certain by Tuesday evening.
''I do not believe this is in serious jeopardy . . . I will be stunned and grossly disappointed if we do not pass this bill,'' Rep. John Peterson, a Pennsylvania Republican and a leading pro-drilling voice, said at a press conference originally intended as a post-vote debriefing Tuesday afternoon.
Sen. Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican who helped negotiate the bill, said he worried it was in jeopardy as both chambers approach adjournment at week's end.
''Any time you've got to work with the timeframe we've got, it's always a concern,'' he said. ''It's not a gimme.''
The Senate passed the measure last summer, but House leaders rebuffed it in favor of a more expansive bill that would open waters around the country, not just off Florida. The Nov. 7 elections, however, prompted some pro-drilling lawmakers in the House to decide the Senate version is better than nothing.
The bill would allow drilling beginning 125 miles south of the Panhandle and 234 miles south of Tampa Bay. That buffer zone would last until 2022. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama would share 37.5 percent of federal royalties from new leasing, funneling billions their way, but none would go to Florida. Another 12.5 percent would go toward a parks fund for all states to share.
What happens next depends on procedural calculations. Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio told a clutch of reporters Tuesday afternoon that he intended to attach the bill to a package of tax-cut extensions that is considered popular and is on the agendas of both chambers this week.
That plan, however, prompted questions among drilling opponents about whether the bill had enough support to pass on its own without amendments, even under simple-majority rules. Changes to the bill would sink it in the Senate, and some Republican leaders argue attaching the drilling measure to the tax bill would ease its passage.
Some Republican aides also contend that the drilling bill could attract more votes in the House and Senate for the tax bill.
The bill had been up for a vote Tuesday under an expedited procedure that requires a two-thirds majority but would keep the bill free of amendments. The plan, as articulated by GOP leaders before Tuesday, was that if the expedited process failed, the bill would move under normal rules later in the week. Drilling supporters were confident Monday that the measure would be sent to President Bush's desk either way.
By Tuesday morning, it became clear to top Republicans that the measure did not have the supermajority necessary - 290 votes if all members are present. The question is how badly it would have failed. The procedure is usually reserved for bills that are assured of passage or as an opportunity for a test vote.
''We won the first round,'' said Melinda Pierce, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club. ''They don't have the votes. ... Our pitch to Democrats is: Don't pass this parting gift to the oil and gas industry. If you want to write a bill, let's write it with Democratic ink.''
Environmental lobbyists working the Capitol corridors said some minds changed between Monday and Tuesday and that House leaders miscalculated the bill's support to begin with.
Lawmakers and lobbyists on both sides of the issue began their vote count with the June roll call where the House voted 232-187 to pass its more expansive drilling bill. Some House members, however, who voted for the House bill, including at least two Republicans from Florida, were leaning against the Senate bill Monday, arguing it is too narrow.
Some energy producers struck worried tones Tuesday evening.
''We are in the last minute of the last hour to pass vital OCS legislation that opens previously restricted areas to safe and responsible energy production,'' Barry Russell, president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, said in a written statement referring to the outer continental shelf.
Supporters of the bill urged the House to act quickly. Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, has pressured Congress to pass the Senate bill, which would finance restoration of her state's disappearing wetlands.
''This is a critical bill for the future of our state, for the Gulf Coast and the preservation of America's wetlands,'' she said at a press conference.
A House Republican leadership aide said he was confident the drilling bill would pass if attached to the tax package, which includes a reinstatement of the federal deduction for sales taxes in states that don't have income taxes, such as Florida.
Martinez, for one, said he was concerned about mixing tax cuts with oil and gas drilling. He said a ''clean bill'' would be better.
Peterson said many lawmakers have been convinced that drilling isn't the dirty business environmentalists portray, but it has been a long road to the threshold of new offshore production.
''Something about drilling a hole in the ground,'' he said, ''has been looked at as a negative environmental procedure.''
Energy plan goes to vote
Coal-plant opponents press commission for cleaner
energy
City commissioners are expected to vote today on an energy plan for Tallahassee's future.
The plan calls for continued participation in a coal plant proposed for Taylor County and includes several measures approved over the past year such as energy conservation, renewable energy and a biomass plant. City officials say that would not lock the city into participating in the coal plant past 2008. They say the city will consider other options, but that the Taylor County plant makes the most sense now.
Coal-plant opponents have been pressing commissioners to reconsider. On Tuesday, students delivered a petition, signed by 493 students of Lincoln, Leon and Rickards high schools, calling for a coal-free "Clean Energy Plan."
"We want there to be a clean-energy future for Tallahassee," said Allan Long, a 16-year-old junior at Rickards.
Also on Tuesday, Ray Bellamy, a professor at Florida State University's College of Medicine, took out a full-page newspaper ad requesting that the commissioners press for a more technologically advanced, cleaner coal plant.
But the city's three partners in the plant say they do not think that technology is ready.
"We have looked at it and continue to look at it," said Mark McCain, a spokesman for the project, "and we still believe our plant is the best option for reliable, affordable and environmentally responsible energy."
The City Commission meeting starts at 4 p.m. today in the commission chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 300 S. Adams St.
Suwannee marina may serve as hub on paddling trail A state land acquisition council will vote this week on buying a marina in the town of Suwannee to serve as the southern hub of the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail.The paddling trail stretches 170 miles from White Springs to Suwannee. Hubs for paddlers to launch into the river and to get out for lodging and services in nearby towns are being located along the waterway.
"This will be the southern end of the trail," said Katie Flanagan, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The state's Acquisition and Restoration Council is holding meetings Thursday and Friday in which the purchase of the 2.5-acre property will be considered. Flanagan said the property is the former Angler's Resort, currently owned by Joy C. Anderson. She said the price won't be publicly released until later this week.
Also this week, the council will consider starting negotiations for a conservation easement on the B.J. Bar Ranch in southwestern Putnam County. The 5,228-acre property would help link conservation lands including the Ocala National Forest, Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park and the Ordway-Swisher Biological Station.
The governor's Cabinet would need to give final approval for both the easement and marina purchase.
The Suwannee River Wilderness Trail is a $10 million joint effort by the state and the Suwannee River Water Management District. The trail provides a more organized way for people to paddle the Suwannee, said John Webb of Suwannee River Canoe and Kayak in Branford.
"A lot of people don't want to just primitive camp and be unsure about where they're going to end up at," Webb said.
River camps are being built a day's paddle from hubs, providing covered camping platforms and restrooms with hot showers. Cabins have also been built at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs and at other parks along the river.
The creation of accommodations attracts more people to the river, said Wendell Hannum, owner of American Canoe Adventure in White Springs.
"Most of them say, 'Now I can bring my wife,' " he said.
Nathan Crabbe can be reached at 352-338-3176 or crabben@gville sun.com
Another Smelly Mess
By GARY PINNELLgpinnell@highlandstoday.com
SEBRING - When a subdivision builds its own community sewer and water system, and the developer is unable to operate it, what happens?
By state law, that utilities system becomes the headache of the county. That’s what’s happened to the Thunderbird Hill South wastewater treatment plant. It’s owned by Landmark Enterprises, but David Plank has operated the plant without a Florida Department of Environmental Protection permit for the past five years, said County Engineer Ramon Gavarrete.
The plant, said Bob Diefendorf, a county transportation and utilities project manager, is in poor shape, and needs hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of repairs. Additionally, some sewer lines, including forced mains, run underneath houses, and will need to be moved. Alarms need to be installed to notify off-site engineers if a disaster occurs.
“The plant cannot be re-permitted in its present condition,” Diefendorf said. “It must be redesigned.”
“The county either wants to place the wastewater plant and system into receivership of Highlands County or abandon the plant,” a memo from Assistant County Engineer Elius Nortelus told the commissioners.
But even if the county were willing to take over the plant, Diefendorf said, there’s an $86,000 lien, so the owner is unwilling to give up the operation if the bank note isn’t paid off. The only good news is that sewer revenues total about $111,000 a year, but County Attorney Ross Macbeth said that isn’t enough to pay for repairs.
“You mean a developer can just walk out?” Commission Chairman Guy Maxcy asked.
“There are cases where that’s happened,” Macbeth answered. “You’re looking at a situation where you may be forcibly pulled in.” He recommended co-opting the city of Sebring to operate the plant, until a better situation is worked out.
City utilities director Marty Roepstorff said he’s been studying the feasibility of the city taking over the system. He estimated the cost of repairs at $1-2 million.
“The property owners will have to repay that because that’s their service,” he said. However, the best solution might be to close the plant, he said. The city could build a forced main to the area to move the sewage to another treatment plant.
Septic tanks might be the cheaper solution for the residents, he speculated.
“I don’t believe there’s any statutes that requires central sewer,” he said. He predicted they won’t be happy with any solution, because they’ll all be expensive.
County Administrator Carl Cool said if the county does take over, it may have to assess the 400 customers in Thunderbird Hill, Vantage Point, Brae Lock Villas, Red Pine Apartments and commercial businesses like Badcock Furniture more than $30 a month. That would defray the county’s costs, Cool said.
“It’s going to be one smelly mess,” Maxcy predicted. “We need to tell the City of Sebring, please, pretty please.”
The chairman directed Gavarrete to contact Roepstorff, and to estimate the costs for the county.
Four audience members were upset with the news.
Lamar Ritenour, 1161 Sunbird Court, is a customer of the plant. He said David Plank is a nice guy, but perhaps should be sued to reimburse the county’s expenses, so that taxpayers won’t have to. Ritenour also complained about the stench from the sewer plant.
Jack Richie, who chairs the county homeowner’s association, blamed the EDP for allowing the problem to continue for years. “You’re rather ineffective,” Richie told Elijah Fleishauer, who has been inspecting the plant.
Major Mark Schrader said deputies have been trained to issue parking tickets. “There is no reason for illegal parking out there with all those signs,” he said.
Those who own homes around Lake Denton, which is on Memorial Drive between Avon Park and Sebring, have complained for years about boaters and scuba divers who park on the road shoulders and in yards, and party wildly. One lake resident, Dave Simpson, told the commissioners he had been cursed by a few renegade divers who were blocking the road and would not move. He said other lake residents are afraid to report unruly lake patrons, who shoot dirty looks and fingers at anyone who challenges them.
Simpson urged the commissioners to close the lake to scuba divers for one or two years. In the meantime, they would find other places to dive, Simpson reasoned, like Lakes Jackson, Verona and Tulane. Divers have said that those lakes aren’t deep enough, and that Lake Denton is the perfect place to dive because of its depth and the water’s clarity.
Commissioner Barbara Stewart disagreed: “We’ve waited this long.”
Since scuba and boating season has passed, the deputies will have time to issue tickets to violators, and a letter can be sent to diving shops to warn people that the county will enforce good behavior at the lake, she said.
Commissioner Edgar Stokes agreed. “I’m not for closing it right now. I think we ought to get into summer first. The last thing we ought to do is close it to the public.”
Titusville pursues roads
study
City wants to better
plan for growth
BY JESSICA RAYNOR
FLORIDA TODAY
This town isn't the car-clogged, horn-honking, pothole-ridden mess that big-city drivers face daily. And Rena Kasey likes it that way.
"Titusville is a place I love being, because you can get out and drive around easy," the Illinois transplant said.
But years from now, as the number of people and cars grows, who knows what transportation issues could arise?
That's why the city, in conjunction with state and county officials, is developing a transportation study focusing on roads from north of State Road 528 to the Volusia County line.
They plan to meet in two weeks to lay out the scope of the study, a minutely detailed account of expected traffic patterns, future road stress and development impact stretching out 20 years.
Cost estimates for the study have varied from $200,000 to $500,000, depending on the study's parameters. Some funding could come from the state. It should take about a year.
Titusville hadn't dealt with these issues until about three years ago, when residential and commercial building started booming. That prompted city leaders to examine all aspects of what these new buildings, businesses and people mean to the city and draft a growth visioning action plan called Titusville 2020.
That document, as well as new state law requiring that transportation improvements be included in the city's growth plan and be financially feasible, led the city to ask for the study, said Don Land, information technology planner for Titusville.
"We're trying to get ahead of the curve," Land said. "We have some large projects coming down the pike."
Among them are the 1,300-home Willow Creek development on Grissom Road and the 300-acre mixed-use development at Sandy Pointe on the south end of town off U.S. 1. There's also Target and Home Depot coming online next summer on State Road 405.
County Commissioner Truman Scarborough, who represents North Brevard, said the county has increased property tax rates to pay for transportation projects already under way across the county, but growth-planning efforts haven't been focused on the north.
"We don't want to end up in a scenario like South Brevard that we have critical problems of gridlock," he said.
While the most recent traffic counts show a decrease in trips along most roads in the area, planners can already see future problems. One road that presents cause for concern for county staffers is Sisson Road, which borders the expanding Meadowridge subdivision.
"That's one that's going to come out to be strongly supported for improvements," said John Denninghoff, the county's traffic engineering supervisor.
Bob Kamm, director of the Brevard Metropolitan Planning Organization, which supports the proposed study, said the MPO develops a long-range plan for the county every five years, but it's based on two-year-old data and doesn't necessarily include all of the roadways that need examining.
Also, a comprehensive transportation study would make clear who's responsible for funding road improvements and create a basis for dialogue, instead of devolving into angry finger-pointing, Lamm said.
"This is responsible planning, responsible public policy," he said.
Contact Raynor at 360-1016 or jraynor@brevard.gannett.com.
Future Farmers Growing Strong
By MICAH DYALmdyal@highlandstoday.com
AVON PARK - When it comes to driving a tractor, Brittany Guadino has a handle on it.
FFA has been a part of Guadino’s life the past few years, though growing up in Lake Placid meant she was exposed to the agriculture industry most her life. A shy freshman in high school, she joined FFA after being steered by a teacher and believes participating in the program helped her come out of her shell.
On Tuesday, the Lake Placid High School senior made her school proud by scoring a 96 percent on the tractor test at the 2006 FFA Sub-district CDE competition held annually at South Florida Community College.
“Agriculture teachers continue to change the lives of children,” said Guadino, adding that she eventually wants to become an agriculture teacher.
Whether it’s tending to vegetables or taking part in parliamentary procedure, the mission of the FFA is to develop leadership and personal growth through agriculture education. Members are often encouraged to serve in leadership positions at the local level and many work individually on “supervised agricultural experience” projects.
“We have a few who work at feed stores, another person’s raising earthworms, and another has a cat fish farm,” said Sara Sebring, a sub-district co-chair and Sebring High School junior.
On Tuesday, more than 50 FFA students in Highlands County took part in the sub-district contest at the college. Winners will advance and participate in the District 11 showdown on Jan. 18, 2007. The winners will move on to state competition.
They were among middle and high school students participating at leadership workshops and award ceremonies. Young delegates convened to discuss and vote on issues that affect the future of one half million agriculture students nationally.
The skills displayed are used in careers such as civil engineering, agriculture, timber production, military service, fire fighting and by forest rangers.
Classes are usually tested on how to keep a journal of activities including buying steers, selling walnuts and planting almond trees – many of the activities they will do later this year.
Good accounting skills are required, and also students must learn to write business agreements. Some placed in public speaking, while others let their testing or farming skills show when they compete during the Jan. 18 District 11 competition.
Events in the competition are prepared public speaking, extemporaneous speaking, opening/closing ceremonies, parliamentary procedures, creed and tractor driving.
Winners in Tuesday’s Sub-district included Jordan Fairfield, of Sebring; Paul Bohlen, of Lake Placid; Jerry Lee Wright, of Avon Park; Charlie Brown, of Avon Park; Avon Park Middle School and Avon Park High School; Taylor Lane, of Avon Park; and Rex Cunningham, of Avon Park.
Gary Lee, agri-science/agri-business resource teacher, said with the addition of high-tech computer gadgets, and new, broader study areas, high school agriculture classes are seeing more students than they have in decades.
“Regardless of whether a student is planning a career in agriculture, more students are seeing the other opportunities available in FFA,” Lee said.
Some might expect that as farmland makes way for development, agriculture programs would disappear. But the long-standing program, which goes beyond farm labor, with lessons on the science behind raising plants and animals, and how to run an agriculture business, is going strong.
Statewide and nationwide, agriculture programs are flourishing. The Florida FFA recently set a 22 year membership high with 15,119 FFA members, Lee said, up from the previous year which was about 14,000 members.
“More people and more programs keep getting added,” Lee said. “In the beginning it was a small club strictly consisting of farm boys like myself.”
“That has changed.”
The Florida Times-Union
December 6, 2006
More talk or less? Clay idea debated
By ANNE MARIE APOLLO Commission Chairman Harold Rutledge has suggested setting aside time
before the commission's bimonthly meetings to give people time to
discuss matters with him, the county manager and any other commission
members who choose to attend. He said he hoped to increase access to
commissioners.
But public comment at the commission meeting itself would then be
limited to three minutes for items on the agenda. That departure from
the model used in many Northeast Florida communities has drawn criticism
from residents and from a Florida watchdog group.
Barbara Petersen is president of the Tallahassee-based First
Amendment Foundation. Her group has fielded several phone calls about
the move, leaving Petersen with concerns it violates the spirit of laws
guaranteeing free speech by shifting much of the public participation
away from the meetings themselves.
She called Rutledge's idea "problematic."
Clay County Commission meeting mainstay Durwood Smith frames the
situation more bluntly.
"They want to shut the people up," he said. "But the
truth is still the truth and the truth is going to get out."
Rutledge said his intention is just the opposite: He wants to give
people more time to comment and commissioners more time to answer but
doesn't want to slow down the regular meeting in the process.
Residents are now able to speak during the public comment portion of
a Clay County Commission meeting on any topic. When people take issues
to the board, they get their three minutes and sit down, Rutledge said.
At the end of the meeting there is no solution to their problem, he
said.
"We should be having a conversation with these people," he
said. "We don't solve people's problems. I want to talk to people.
We should do that."
Shortly after becoming chairman in November, Rutledge suggested a
separate session reserved for the public to speak might be the way to
go. He hopes the commission will consider the idea at its meeting
Tuesday.
In addition, he wants to have one of the commission's bimonthly
meetings in the morning and the other one in the evening so people who
work opposite shifts will all have a chance to make their voice heard.
Commission meetings are at 2 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesday of each
month.
Rutledge envisions a publicly advertised meeting for comments that
would make available the county staff and most of the commission
members. Minutes would be kept, he said. It could even be televised. It
just wouldn't be part of the regular commission meeting.
That's where Petersen said the trouble comes in. Her group is
supported by the Florida press and is available both to the media and
the general public on questions about open government and free speech.
"The fact is, it's a constitutional right, both the right to be
present and be heard," Petersen said. "If it's not at the
meeting, what good is it?"
The No. 1 question to the foundation's hot line is from people
concerned their rights to speak at government meetings are being
violated, she said.
Ideally, people who attend open meetings should be able to comment on
issues as they are considered, she said, as well as have an opportunity
to bring things that aren't on the agenda in front of their entire body
of elected officials.
"There are ways to do this that don't slow things down that give
people the right to be heard," she said.
Volusia County might be the one place where both Rutledge and
Petersen find common ground.
Rutledge modeled his idea in part on that county's long-held policy
of holding a special public participation session a half hour before its
meeting is called to order.
But Matt Greeson, Volusia's deputy county manager, said residents
have many more opportunities to talk during the meetings.
After the formal meeting starts, the public can speak out on any
agenda item. They also can pull for discussion items off the consent
agenda, a group of items typically approved in one vote by a commission.
At the end of the meeting, people can speak yet again, about items
not on the agenda.
The public comment session that precedes the day's line-up isn't
differentiated as a separate meeting, Greeson said. It is advertised
along with the commission meeting and appears on its agenda. But the
time between the session and the end of the meeting does give the county
staff time to answer the public's questions and at times solve problems
before the meeting is over, he said.
That's what Rutledge said he's looking for, but it's not necessarily
a priority for Jane Padgett, who along with Smith is a co-founder of the
Clay County group Citizens for Term Limits and Accountability.
Most people don't expect an immediate answer to problems they bring
to the commission, she said, but they do want a chance to speak.
She calls Rutledge's suggestion that he wants to give the public more
chance to comment "smoke and mirrors."
"I had an instant reaction to it," she said of the proposed
change. "I really feel like its an attempt to push citizens out of
the decision-making process in Clay County."
She and Smith have often used the time allotted to them to speak out
at commission meetings, though both are aware the commission doesn't
always want to hear what they have to say.
Before any change goes into effect, they have a chance to make their
opinion known again.
They can speak up during the public comment portion at the next
commission meeting.
Speaking up
Policies on comment at public meetings vary by county and board.
Clay County County Commission: People currently can speak on any
topic during the public comment portion of the commission meeting.
Comment is limited to three minutes. Agenda is available online. School
Board: People who want to speak about an item on the agenda have to
submit their name and address, as well as the organization they are
representing with the agenda item number. Time is provided at the end of
the meeting for public comment about things not on the agenda. Time is
limited to three minutes. Agendas and backup material are available
online.
Duval County Jacksonville City Council: Public comment is allowed
during public hearings and on any topic mid-meeting. Each person is
limited to three minutes at public hearing and three minutes at the
public comment portion of the meeting, though alternate time limits can
be set at the discretion of the council. School Board: Public comment on
any topic is heard at the beginning of the meeting and is limited to
three minutes. Submission of accompanying written comments is encouraged
if the information can't be relayed in three minutes or less.
Nassau County County Commission: Public opportunity to speak at the
beginning of the meeting. Comment is limited to three minutes. Agendas
are provided online. School Board: Individuals are allowed to comment on
items on the agenda as they are considered. Time is limited to three
minutes. Thirty minutes is reserved at the end of the meeting for public
discussion of things not on the board's meeting agenda.
St. Johns County County Commission: People can speak on any topic
during the public comment portion of the meeting and on agenda items.
Agendas and backup material are provided online. School Board: Public
comment is solicited at the beginning and end of the meeting.
annemarie.apollo@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4470
The Times-Union
A move by a Clay County commissioner who he
says he wants to see residents talking more to elected officials has
some advocates concerned they'll end up with less of a say about the way
local government runs.
Sounds like snake oil, but this oil revitalizes roads
ASJYLYN LODERWith asphalt prices delaying road projects, the county turns to a soybean oil spray that may be environmentally friendly.
Published December 6, 2006
Roofing shingles, vegetable oil, and soybeans: just a few things tried by road builders to get around the skyrocketing cost of oil-based asphalt.
The latest - a spray-on soybean oil mix out of Missouri that "rejuvenates" brittle, aging asphalt.
"When I heard of it, I thought, 'Oh God. Another snake-oil quick-fix type thing,' " said Bill Busch, the tall, plainspoken coordinator of Hernando County's pavement management program.
The price of asphalt has jumped 100 percent in the past four years, leaving Hernando County alone with 70 miles of collector roads it can't afford to fix next year, Busch told the County Commission on Tuesday afternoon. Doubling and tripling road costs have delayed projects throughout the state, and the expense mothered new concoctions.
In a quarter-century of road building, Busch has seen a few snake-oil quick fixes, but none that outdid asphalt. Then he tried the soybean oil spray. Slippery at first, it soaked in within minutes, turning the faded gray asphalt into good-as-new blacktop.
BioSpan Technologies came out with RePlay last year, Busch said. The soybean oil mix sprays on easily, cures within a half-hour, and can be applied every three to five years, stretching the 10-year life span of a road to 20 years or more.
Covering 75 miles of road with a quarter-inch sheeting of asphalt costs $75-million. RePlay gets the same results for $850,000, Busch said.
"Farmers grow it here in the United States," Busch said. "It's produced in the United States, and that says it all if you ask me."
It also sidesteps the environmental impact of petroleum-based products, Busch said.
"You can drink it," he boasted, then reconsidered. "Well, maybe I wouldn't drink it."
It's not the only new concoction on Hernando's roads. Last week, a local inventor and engineer spread a mix of roofing shingles and recycled vegetable oil on a 1,000-foot stretch of limerock road, hoping to smooth out the ride and hold down the dust.
The mix, made with leftover shingle scraps from a Bradenton company, costs less than the traditional oil-based mix.
The state Department of Transportation approved the pilot program, but it might be a while before other contractors can test drive the new goo.
Charles Mixson, head of the county's public works department, said Tuesday that he planned to drive that bit of road and see how it held up.
Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com or 352754-6127.
It is sometime after 2013, the time when every utility system in Central Florida is supposed to be switching from the aquifer to lakes, rivers and other alternative sources to get their next water ration.
Unfortunately, in 2013 we've found ourselves on the downside of a weather phenomenon called the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation.
The AMO, as it is commonly called for ease of pronunciation, is a description of what appear to be "wet" and "dry" cycles that affect average rainfall.
The last "wet" AMO period occurred roughly from 1940 to 1969, followed by a "dry" AMO period that lasted from 1970 to 1999. We're now supposedly in a "wet" AMO again, which will play out in 2020 if you go by the duration of the last two AMOs, and if they're typical.
In the earlier "wet" AMO, the lakes were higher, there was more water in the rivers and the water supply problems weren't as serious as they are today.
That's because average rainfall was higher.
During the last "wet" AMO there also were much fewer people living in Florida to tax those water supplies.
But recent weather history shows us relying on averages can be risky.
Since 2000 the average annual rainfall in Lakeland has been 58.83 inches, which is significantly higher than the 49.24-inch average since 1948, when the current weather station was established.
In that period, the extremes have ranged from 38.3 inches in 2000 - the worst drought in a century - to 66.87 inches in 2005, one of wettest years on record. Rainfall for the first 11 months of 2006 was only 43.09 inches.
Meanwhile, more people are moving into Polk County and are demanding more water. Utilities are turning to water management officials to ask for permits to use more water.
The permits are being issued, but not without stern language about the need to look at alternative sources for future needs, especially the needs that don't involve the water coming out of the tap inside our homes and businesses.
Water to irrigate grass, to wash cars, and to produce the steam to run boilers and turbines are ideal candidates for alternative water supplies. The purple pipes and valves that carry this part of our water supply are becoming nearly ubiquitous. The problem is that there's not enough of it.
So where do we get more water?
We put pipes in lakes and rivers. We collect runoff from rainstorms and store it in reservoirs above or below ground. We build a pipeline system to bring the water from wherever it is collected to wherever it is needed. We try to find the money to pay for it all.
Looking to the future you can probably add your water bill to the list of escalating household expenses.
Nevertheless, there's a limit out there somewhere.
There are limits to the amount of water that utilities can suck from rivers, which are established in their permits.
The limit has been set, sort of, for the Peace River. The limit has yet to be set for the Kissimmee River, which is the next target.
Somewhere in the equation water managers must take into account not only how much water the utilities and developers desire to use to accommodate the next million residents who move in, but how much water the river needs.
River flow provides the water wildlife and plants need to survive. The freshwater flow maintains the amount of habitat that the birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates that inhabit the river require.
Without adequate flow, which Florida law says must be established and maintained, saltwater will move upstream, just as it has already done in the aquifer that was plundered before.
When the AMO cycle shifts again and the new pipelines are built to supply millions of new faucets and showerheads, it will be interesting to see how it all sorts out during dry years.
One of the recurring arguments for the need for easing the rules for new development is that we need to accommodate the children of the people who live here already.
What we really need to think about is how to accommodate those people's grandchildren and the generations that will follow.
This discussion in a way parallels the discussion we're having about our energy future. Both involve dealing with finite resources and finding innovative ways to keep the world running.
I wish future generations luck.
Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@ theledger.com.
Highway projects make the cut
A five-year plan shows the state is committed to paying for improvements.
By DAN DEWITT
Published December 5, 2006
BROOKSVILLE - The big news for Hernando County in the state Department of Transportation's new five-year plan is the lack of widely expected bad news.
Because of rising costs for land and road construction in recent years, county planners had been bracing for cuts to crucial highway construction projects, including the widening of stretches of County Line Road and State Road 50.
Instead, the five-year plan, which was released Friday, shows the state is still committed to paying for those improvements, even if it means paying more.
For example, in last year's five-year plan, the state reserved $13.8-million to widen 2.4 miles of County Line between U.S. 19 and Cobblestone Drive.
That cost is now $31.3-million. But the Transportation Department still expects to pay for the project, work on which is expected to begin next year.
"I'm very pleased," said Dennis Dix, the county's transportation planning coordinator, who will present the report to the County Commission today.
Not every county was so lucky, said Kris Carson, a spokeswoman for the department's District 7 office in Tampa.
Funding for projects in the district - which includes Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Citrus and Hernando counties - did not increase dramatically over last year, she said. That meant the district was forced to repackage contracts with road builders and cut several projects in other counties.
No special effort was made to preserve the projects in Hernando, she said, but the projects were analyzed on their costs and merits.
Dix said it might have helped that Hernando had only two major projects, County Line and SR 50, which is the costliest single project in the county. The new plan calls for spending $53.7-million over the next five years on widening SR 50 from four to six lanes between U.S. 19 and Mariner Boulevard.
Dix had earlier expressed concern that the state would not be able to pay for the widening of SR 50 between Kettering and Lockhart roads near Interstate 75. The county will not receive any firm word on that until the Transportation Department releases its long-rage plan later this year, but the five-year plan calls for spending $1.8-million to design improvements for that stretch of roadway. That's a good sign, Dix said, because the department seldom pays to design jobs it does not plan to work on soon.
The state has also agreed to help pay for the widening of Barclay Avenue, between Elgin Boulevard and SR 50. The total cost of that project is $22.5-million, and it is expected to be finished within the next five years.
In one key project outside Hernando, the state Turnpike Enterprise has earmarked $182-million to design the Suncoast Parkway extension into Citrus County and begin buying rights of way.
Staff writer Jim Ross contributed to this report. Dan DeWitt can be reached at dewitt@sptimes.com or 352 754-6116.
State to fund vital road projects
By MICHAEL D. BATESmbates@hernandotoday.com
BROOKSVILLE — Hernando Today has obtained a copy of the Florida Department of Transportation’s five-year tentative work program and the news is good for Hernando County.
County commissioners and other county officials were concerned that FDOT would shift money away from much-needed projects, especially State Road 50.
However the document, obtained in advance of tonight’s FDOT meeting, shows S.R. 50 improvements are on the way. The report also shows much-needed funding for key collector roads in Spring Hill and along the well-traveled Suncoast Parkway corridor.
The road work will be completed between 2007 and 2012.
Among the biggest projects earmarked for improvement:
— S.R. 50 will be widened to six lanes from U.S. 19 to west of Mariner Boulevard — a 3.7-mile stretch — at a cost of $53.7 million for right of way and construction.
— S.R. 50 is also in line for future widening to six lanes from Mariner Boulevard east to the Suncoast Parkway. FDOT is allocating $18.1 million for right of way acquisition on that two-mile stretch.
— S.R. 50 from California Street to Cobb Road, a distance of 2.6 miles, will be under preliminary engineering for adding lanes and reconstruction from 2011-2012 at a cost of $2 million.
— Barclay Avenue will be widened to four lanes from S.R. 50 south to Elgin Boulevard. Cost: $15 million. At one time, Hernando County had only planned to widen Barclay from S.R. 50 south to Lawrence Street. However, money from state programs allowed for the additional widening.
— County Line Road will be widened from U.S. 19 to East Road, just past Cobblestone Drive, on the Pasco County side. Additional right of way is being obtained by the county through state funding programs.
The Hernando County Airport is also in line for funding from 2011-2012. For example, $400,000 will go toward construction of new hangars.
In all, the new FDOT plan for 2011-2012 allocates $6.4 million for Hernando County.
“I am very pleased that we will see the long-awaited widening of S.R. 50, which is vital to the transportation health of Hernando County,” said Len Tria, chairman of the citizens advisory committee for the Metropolitan Planning Organization.
“I was glad to see FDOT include in its state funding programs the much-needed improvements that will be undertaken on County Line Road,” Tria added. “I believe FDOT came through for Hernando County.”
As former state legislator, County Commissioner David Russell, along with Sen. Mike Fasano, was instrumental in obtaining some of the funding for these FDOT projects.
“Given circumstances around the state where funding is drying up, I think Hernando County has done quite well,” Russell said. “We haven’t lost our road funding and we actually received more than an equitable share of road dollars.”
Reporter Michael D. Bates can be contacted at 352-544-5290.
Insurance crisis undermines state
Florida faces a looming economic crisis. I am not speaking of an unemployment crisis, an inflation crisis, a banking crisis or even a tourism crisis, though I may very well be talking about those things soon enough if we continue down this spiraling path.
Published December 5, 2006
Florida faces a looming economic crisis. I am not speaking of an unemployment crisis, an inflation crisis, a banking crisis or even a tourism crisis, though I may very well be talking about those things soon enough if we continue down this spiraling path.
What I am speaking of is an insurance crisis, and it has the potential to decimate every aspect of our state's economy.
Many homeowners, landlords, renters and business owners across the state would argue that this is already occurring, that the rising costs of property insurance, windstorm insurance and sinkhole insurance are discouraging investment in our state and making people think twice about buying a new home or even moving to Florida in the first place. I agree with them, and, unfortunately, it's about to get a lot worse.
On March 1, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. - the state-run insurer that provides insurance to home and business owners in high-risk areas and others who cannot find coverage in the open, private insurance market - will begin charging policyholders a premium that includes enough of an increase to cover Citizens' cost of purchasing reinsurance. This was mandated last year by the Florida Legislature in Senate Bill 1980.
However, Citizens is not required to actually buy the reinsurance and has no plans to do so. Citizens is simply required to pass along the fictitious costs to Floridians as if it were purchasing reinsurance.
What does this mean for home and business owners? It means an average rate increase of nearly 56 percent for most of Citizens' residential policies and an average 610 percent increase for its commercial policies.
How did this happen, you might ask?
It is no mystery that property insurance has become unaffordable in Florida. Last year, the Florida Legislature attempted to provide some relief through the passage of Senate Bill 1980. However, in the closing hours of the 2006 legislative session, insurance industry lobbyists managed to sneak language into the bill requiring Citizens to raise its rates as if it were purchasing expensive reinsurance, even though Citizens does not plan to actually buy it.
That leads us to a second question: Why? Why would private insurance companies care how much state-operated Citizens raises its rates?
The answer is simple: Insurance companies have been seeking state approval of record rate hikes during the past couple of years, and in many cases, their requests were lowered or denied. But if Citizens raises its rates by an astronomical amount, then the high rate requests that private companies submit don't look quite so bad anymore. It's a numbers game, and it is being played with Floridians' hard-earned money.
Obviously, this situation is ludicrous, and something must be done. In our state, insurance is a necessary burden that all home and business owners must bear, especially considering the constant threat of hurricanes. Because of this, the availability and affordability of insurance is a vital component of our state's economy. And the lack of such insurance is an economic disaster waiting to happen.
As insurance becomes increasingly expensive, several things begin to happen.
Homeowners purchase less coverage or completely drop their policies in an effort to save money. Prospective homeowners are priced out of buying the home they want or are forced to forgo the American dream of owning a house altogether. Landlords are forced to pass along rising insurance costs by increasing their tenants' rents. Small business owners, who often lease their space, are similarly impacted through increased rent, and businesses that own their facilities experience insurance rate increases just like homeowners. Just as landlords pass on insurance rate hikes to their tenants, businesses pass such increases on to their customers in the form of increased prices for their goods and services.
Increased prices mean less purchasing, and considering Florida's No. 1 industry is tourism, I don't have to explain what sort of economic impact that would have on our state.
So what is the answer to this crisis? There is no single solution. The Florida Legislature attempted to provide some answers last session with Senate Bill 1980, but with the inclusion of the insurance industry's latest ploy to increase rates, I could not in good conscience vote for the bill. The reasons why I did not support the legislation are now evident for all to see, as drastic insurance rate hikes are on the horizon for those who have nowhere else to turn but Citizens Property Insurance, which is in essence the insurer of last resort.
A special session of the Legislature has been called in January to once again address the insurance crisis. At that time, the two provisions in Senate Bill 1980 requiring home and business owners to bear the cost of reinsurance that Citizens is not even going to purchase must be repealed.
This is, by no means, the only solution to providing for a healthy and affordable insurance market in our state, but it is a much-needed beginning.
Sen. Mike Fasano represents District 11 covering parts of Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties.
Congress unable to agree on funding
WASHINGTON - As Congress wraps up its work this week, nearly two dozen Florida projects worth more than $1 billion are likely to be put on hold until next year.
The fate of two big Everglades-restoration projects will remain in limbo because House and Senate negotiators couldn't reach an agreement.
Funding for a number of shore-protection and port-construction projects will be delayed.
Money for the leaky Herbert Hoover Dike is pending.
Legislation to build a $377.7 million Department of Veterans Affairs hospital near Orlando also will have to wait until the new Congress convenes in January.
Florida lawmakers bemoaned the delay but held out hope that local and statewide projects eventually will be funded after Democrats assume majority control of Congress in January.
''I am extremely disappointed the House-passed legislation to give central Florida veterans a long-awaited and much-needed medical facility will not be considered in the Senate until next year,'' said Rep. Tom Feeney, a Republican whose congressional district includes parts of suburban Orlando and the Space Coast.
Feeney helped broker passage of a bill that would designate a specific site outside Orlando called ''Lake Nona'' for construction of the new VA hospital.
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, passed during the Clinton administration, continues to struggle for funding.
The House and Senate approved picking up approximately half the cost of an estimated $1 billion project to clean up the 156-mile-long Indian River Lagoon in eastern Florida. But the project is going nowhere because leaders in both chambers could not come to a consensus.
Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, said he is urging Republican leaders to pass some of the pending Florida projects, even at this late date.
''If it doesn't happen today, I'll keep pushing for it tomorrow,'' Nelson said.
Another Everglades project on hold is a $350 million effort to restore wetlands and remove roads and canals within a 94-square-mile area of Collier County. The project, when completed, is expected to improve the quality of water flowing to the Gulf of Mexico through the Caloosahatchee River.
''It's frustrating and disappointing that funding for important projects for Southwest Florida and the rest of our state may not be resolved until next year,'' said Jeff Cohen, a spokesman for Rep. Connie Mack IV.
The Fort Myers Republican is tracking several spending items now in limbo, including $65.1 million for a Lee County VA ambulatory and surgery outpatient diagnostic center.
The funding delay will hit every corner of the state.
In the Panhandle, Rep. Jeff Miller, a Santa Rosa County Republican, said he isn't happy that $11 million he requested for a day-care center at Eglin Air Force Base is stalled until next year.
''I'm very disappointed,'' Miller said. ''This is an extremely worthy project. Eglin is in great need of expanded child-care services and will be because of the growth projected at the base.''
Miller blamed his own party leaders for acting too slowly to pass annual spending bills in time for this week's adjournment.
''I think it shows extremely poor leadership,'' Miller said. ''We should not be punting these spending bills to the 110th Congress,'' Miller said.
Tallahassee plans on hold
Rep. Allen Boyd, a Democrat whose congressional district includes Tallahassee, also blamed Republican leaders for lack of progress on important spending bills.
''I am disappointed that the Republican leadership has chosen to postpone legislation that would fund important projects, such as defense funding for Tyndall Air Force Base, research funding for Florida's colleges and universities, and transportation funding for Tallahassee's StarMetro,'' Boyd said.
Boyd is a member of the powerful Appropriations Committee and will be in a better position next year, as a member of the majority, to speed work on the 13 must-pass annual spending bills.
Boyd had requested $1 million for Tallahassee's bus system - half to be used to install hydrogen fuel cells in some buses and half for installing technology to allow real-time tracking of buses as a way to enhance service and public safety.
Here is a partial list of pending Florida projects:
$377.7 million authorizing a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital at the ''Lake Nona'' site near Orlando.
$682.5 million for the Indian River Lagoon Everglades restoration project.
$8.5 million to $10 million for a Canaveral Harbor navigation project.
$65.1 million authorizing construction in Lee County of a VA ambulatory/surgery outpatient diagnostic center and completing Phase 1 land purchase.
Extend Brevard County shoreline protection project from 7.1 miles to 7.6 miles. No funding amount listed.
Construction of a sediment trap for Cape Canaveral Harbor. No funding amount listed.
$1.5 million for a Lee County shore construction project.
$315,000 for an Army Corps of Engineers study in Brevard County.
$10 million for a Canaveral Harbor construction project.
$4.6 million for operations and maintenance at Canaveral Harbor.
$39.8 million for Herbert Hoover Dike seepage control.
Up to $362 million on a project that encompasses 94 square miles in Collier County intended to send cleaner water to the Everglades while lowering water surges sent down the Caloosahatchee River that have caused environmental damage in the past.
An aquatic ecosystem restoration project at Clam Bayou and Dinkins Bayou on Sanibel Island. No funding amount listed.
A shoreline protection project on Sanibel Island. No funding amount listed.
Unspecified funding credits for shoreline protection at Gasparilla and Estero islands.
$150,000 for operations and maintenance at Fort Myers Beach.
$1.5 million for operations and maintenance of portions of the Intracoastal Waterway on the Caloosahatchee River.
$815,000 for operations and maintenance at Pensacola Harbor.
$11 million for day-care center at Eglin AFB.
An aquatic ecosystem restoration project for Bayou Texar in Pensacola. No funding amount listed.
An aquatic ecosystem restoration project at Destin Harbor. No funding amount listed.
For more information, visit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Everglades Restoration program Web site at www.evergladesplan.org.
Developer's deal draws federal scrutiny
Big vote planned in EustisControversial subdivision could add 1,990 homes
Nicole King
Staff Writer
EUSTIS - Eustis city commissioners on Thursday will decide on what could become the city's biggest subdivision. Called The Meadows, the nearly 604-acre, 1,990-lot residential development has been widely contested by residents.
A decision on the development was delayed at the council's Nov. 16 meeting because of public outcry and lingering questions about the proposal's specifics. On Thursday, the matter will be heard as a resolution, and the vote will decide the development's fate.
Residents have expressed concerns over the subdivision's effects on local schools and roads. But outgoing vice-mayor Gwen Manning, whose term ends later this month, said the council's decision will be based on facts, not opinions.
"We've heard about overcrowding in schools, but we have a concurrency agreement that should take care of that. We've also heard about transportation overcrowding, but we have a transportation-proportionate share," Manning said.
Commissioner Frank Rotella declined to comment on the matter.
The land, which is along the north side of County Road 44A in the Clear Lake area, is owned by Orlando-based John Kingman Keating and John F. Ballard, who are being represented by Green Consulting Group Inc.
Plans presented to the town by the developers call for the subdivision's development to be spread out over a 15-year period. The proposal's mix of housing includes single-family homes, townhouses, duplexes and condominiums, averaging nbo more than three homes per acre.
The residential portion of the plan has nearly 330 acres of open space - more than half the total tract - which does not include water bodies and yards. More than four and a half miles of recreational trails are called for. There are also 14 parks in the proposal, including soccer and softball practice fields.
The Eustis City Commission will meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Eustis City Commission Chambers.
Britons say Osceola builder guaranteed visas for investments.
Elaine AradillasSentinel Staff Writer
December 5, 2006
An Osceola County home builder is the target of a federal investigation after British investors said they lost as much as $2 million with the company, which promised to set them up with businesses and qualify them for visas.
David Laverick says he is one of those who thought he had found the perfect way to buy a new life in America.
Two years ago, he met fellow Briton Michael "Mick" Leggett at an immigration exposition in York, England. For an investment of $120,000, he said, Leggett agreed to set up a home-building company for him. That was supposed to qualify Laverick for an E-2 visa that would enable him and his family to live here as long as he owned the company.
"This was our Florida dream," Laverick said recently. "It's now our Florida nightmare."
Laverick was one of at least 16 British citizens who invested with Leggett's company, Royal Development LLC, since 2003. As new visitors to the United States, they said they had no idea there were easier and less costly ways to earn the visa.
Each investor tells essentially the same story: Royal Development offered a money-back guarantee that investors would qualify for an E-2 visa if they invested up to $150,000.
An E-2 "treaty investor" visa allows a foreigner who starts or buys a business that meets certain qualifications to live in the United States.
But the visas never materialized after the U.S. Embassy in London rejected the investors' business plans.
Kendal Smith, a spokesman for the State Department, said its Bureau of Diplomatic Security opened a criminal investigation of Royal Development in January. Officials came to Osceola County in September to interview Leggett, he said.
"Our specific purpose is visa fraud," Smith said. "It's still under investigation."
Visas denied
Now, Laverick and two other investors are suing Leggett and Royal Development, according to court records. Laverick's civil suit says he was defrauded and demands the return of his $120,000.
"I wrote Mr. Leggett saying [our visas] were denied," Laverick said. "We asked for our money back, and he basically said, 'Talk to my attorney.' "
Leggett, in a brief interview, told the Orlando Sentinel that his attorney advised him not to comment. "It's in my best interest to keep quiet," he said. Leggett, 51, who is not an American citizen, would not say whether he was in the United States on an E-2 visa or a green card, which allows permanent residency.
His Orlando attorney, Victor Chapman, did not return repeated phone calls.
Richard Murdoch, who co-founded Royal Development with Leggett in 2003, said he sold his interest and left the company earlier this year. He said he can remember sending at least five e-mails to concerned investors stating that if they did not receive an E-2 visa, the company would return their investment.
He said he cannot divulge why he left the business because he signed a confidentiality agreement. He said he didn't learn the investors were denied visas until after he left.
"It should've worked. It was a great little company," said Murdoch, who lives in Celebration.
Discord in Harmony
According to advertisements and literature, Royal Development's business plan was simple: The investor would own a home-building business, which would piggyback on Royal Development's general-contractor's license. Royal guaranteed it would build two homes during two years that would be sold by the newly created "builder." In many cases, the investor planned to occupy one of the homes.
In order to jump-start their businesses, at least 10 investors each paid up to $100,000 more to buy a lot in Harmony, the Osceola development known for its environmentally friendly features and traditional-neighborhood design.
They took out construction loans to build their homes while they lived in rental property. But in all of the cases, as much as a year or more into construction, the county ordered work on the homes stopped, and liens were filed after subcontractors walked off the jobs, claiming they had not been paid. Several investors said Royal had drawn enough money from their construction loans to cover the bills. They don't know where the money went.
Chris Barrett, a partner in Royal Development, told a reporter that Royal paid subcontractors on behalf of the investors, who could see records of all the transactions. He could not explain why the subcontractors were not paid.
Investor Paul Butterfield said Royal withdrew $150,000 from his $650,000 construction loan to begin construction of his house. But, he said, after workers poured the foundation, they stopped because they didn't get paid. Butterfield said his bank paid the concrete firm directly, and he assumed control of his loan account.
Butterfield filed a complaint with the Osceola Sheriff's Office; a spokeswoman said the matter is under investigation. But, she said, it is classified as a "suspicious incident" because detectives said they need more information. Butterfield is currently out of the country.
Investors wait
Now, the investors fear they'll lose their investments -- and their chances at visas.
Most of their homes, though, will be finished. Mike Wetzel, who is a St. Cloud City Council member and licensed general contractor, said he agreed, after Royal approached him, to finish work on 10 homes.
"I'm making sure the money is being handled properly," he said. "I'm trying to get these families into their homes."
In a prepared statement, Jim Lentz, one of the founders of Harmony, said Royal Development met the development's requirements when it was chosen as a builder. But, he said, Royal will not be part of Harmony's future phases.
Meanwhile, all the British investors can do is wait -- to see whether they'll get their investment back before the money they're living on runs out.
Laverick and his wife grew tired of waiting. They secured the help of an immigration lawyer and finally learned what it takes to get a visa.
Last year, he resubmitted a visa application and started an information-technology company with an investment of only $2,000. He was recently granted E-2 status.
"I feel elated. This shows that it can be done," Laverick said. "We can now start to earn a living and get our lives on track in spite of everything that's gone on before."
Elaine Aradillas can be reached at earadillas@orlandosentinel.com or 407-931-5940.
Builder denies cutting trees without permit
A developer faces enforcement action by
Volusia County after clearing vegetation and damaging trees along the
Ormond Loop Scenic Corridor, according to a county report released Monday.
McCarthy Builders, developers of the Toscana subdivision on Old Dixie
Highway, will be required to restore vegetation along the right of way,
according to the investigation report by Montye Beamer, county director of
growth and resource management.
Scott McCarthy of McCarthy Builders said Monday that vegetation was cut
in an area where four homes will be built.
Volusia County officials issued McCarthy Builders a permit in March to
remove seven small trees at the southern entrance to Toscana and install
two inlets to collect stormwater.
"The use permit did not allow for any other tree or vegetation
removal," Beamer wrote.
In August, the Volusia County Public Works department removed several
trees to the north of each subdivision entrance to improve sight lines for
traffic. That work complied with the county rules that exempt tree removal
in existing rights of way to ensure safety to motorists.
McCarthy Builders followed up on the county work by clearing additional
vegetation in the right of way and damaging "many of the remaining
trees," according to the report.
Removal of the vegetation was not authorized by the McCarthy Builders'
permit and is a violation of the county's Land Development Code, according
to the report.
"Four lots in the subdivision where we did the underbrushing will
have driveways that exit directly onto Old Dixie Highway," McCarthy
said.
Commission mulls roles of county consultants
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
WEST PALM BEACH — County commissioners today will discuss the role of county-hired consultants who also represent private interests, but a policy overhaul is unlikely.
Officials have said just about all local firms the county hired to create development plans or study traffic issues also have private clients, resulting in at least a perception of a conflict of interest that the county may work harder to try to avoid.
Some say an alternative - hiring out-of-town consultants - may not work best, as those firms may not be familiar with Palm Beach County.
"We've got to be reasonable about this," Commissioner Warren Newell said. "You can't go out of the area. You'll have delays, you'll have design errors."
Today's scheduled talks were triggered by County Administrator Bob Weisman's review of the sale of 10 acres of county-owned land three years ago.
An employee with West Palm Beach-based land planning firm Kilday & Associates initially represented a company interested in bidding on the land. After the county received the bids, another employee of the firm studied the impacts of the various proposals for the county.
The presence of both roles, which the firm said never overlapped, "is at least undesirable," Weisman said.
Kilday & Associates last month stopped representing the county in drawing up new development plans at Mecca Farms, saying the firm's representation of area landowners could create a "perceived conflict" that could "undermine public confidence."
The county since has struggled to find a new consultant to work on Mecca Farms' plans.
Commissioner Karen Marcus said Monday she wouldn't mind letting the area's residents serve as consultants of sorts by having the county host nighttime meetings to discuss Mecca - and the area's - future.
"I think that would go a long way," Marcus said.
County staff have pointed to two other firms with potential conflicts that also play dual roles representing county and private interests, but have initially recommended keeping their contracts.
West Palm Beach-based Pinder Troutman Consulting Inc. is analyzing traffic impacts related to the projected growth of central-western agricultural lands. The firm also does work for Lion Country Safari, which may obtain development rights as part of an area growth plan.
In the other case, the law firm Hopping Green & Sams served as the county's outside counsel during challenges to plan approvals for Scripps at Mecca Farms. The firm, according the county, represents home builder GL Homes in a St. Lucie County project, as well as the owner of 10 acres on Northlake Boulevard.
Commissioners will discuss the issues during the meeting that starts at 9:30 a.m. at the county governmental center
County's land policy clothed in silliness
By HOWARD TROXLER, Times Columnist
Published December 5, 2006
There was a story in the paper over the weekend about a group called Tampa Area Naturists, or TAN (great acronym!), renewing its efforts to have a part of Fort De Soto Park in Pinellas County declared clothing-optional.
But politically speaking, it's about as likely that the Pinellas County Commission would start meeting in the nude as that it would declare part of Fort De Soto to be clothing-optional.
Too bad TAN isn't trying to despoil natural, county-owned land with development, water-treatment plants or heavily used sports fields.
In that case, Pinellas County might be more tempted.
After all, the county had to be beaten into submission by public outcry back in February to drop plans for a big restaurant and other "improvements" to Fort De Soto.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the county, Pinellas is nibbling at the more than 8,000-acre Brooker Creek Preserve, which, as we have seen, is not as much a "preserve" as a land bank for whatever the county wants - utility plants, irrigation source, soccer fields.
This Thursday, a citizens' group formed by the county to advise it on environmental issues will meet to consider two controversial ideas for the Brooker Creek Preserve:
- Whether to pump water out of the preserve to irrigate nearby private golf courses.
- Whether to lease 38 acres of the preserve for a youth-sports complex.
The meeting of the advisory group, called the Environmental Science Forum, will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Weedon Island Cultural and Natural History Center. (See directions below.)
This promises to be an interesting meeting for several reasons. It will be a test of the citizens' advisory board, created earlier this year.
It isn't going to be enough for the county folks to come in and say, "Hey, we promise this pumping won't hurt anything" and for the board to say, "Well, okey-dokey."
As for sports fields, they are a fine thing and much-needed in a crowded county, but there's no way they're the "passive" recreation for which the Brooker Creek Preserve was intended.
The intended site consists of a replanted slash-pine habitat that's home to several species.
It's not "pristine," as the county likes to point out, but it is preserve land nonetheless. (Every time the county wants to do something, it explains, well, heck, this isn't the good part of the preserve.)
Brooker Creek either is a preserve or it isn't, and if not then Pinellas County should quit calling it one - quit printing the fancy brochures, quit taking credit.
Just call it "Site of Future Water Plants and Whatever Else Is Convenient."
But I would think that the county, as it moves toward asking the voters for a renewal of its 10-year Penny for Pinellas sales tax, would be especially sensitive to its image. After all, part of the preserve was assembled with money from that tax.
If the message is, "We'll tell you one thing to get this tax approved, and then do whatever we want anyway," well, that might not be the best strategy.
The taxpayers are restless these days, you know.
Directions to Weedon Island: From Gandy Boulevard, turn south onto San Martin Boulevard just east of Derby Lane. From Fourth Street N in St. Petersburg, turn east on 83rd Avenue N and follow the road until you see the signs.
Charlotte will try to buy land that connects existing parks
The new conservation tax, however, will likely lock up property that has more significant development potential, such as waterfront acreage and dry scrub land.
Collier County, which has about the same amount of conserved land east of I-75 as Charlotte, has been buying areas under fierce development since its conservation tax passed in 2002, said Bill Lorenz, environmental services director for Collier County.
Usually, that land is in or near urban areas, where people readily see and feel the benefits of the program, Lorenz said.
That focus makes the program popular.
The Collier conservation tax passed in 2002 with 60 percent of the vote. This year, 82 percent of Collier voters chose to continue the land acquisition program.
Charlotte's program passed for the first time this year with 53 percent of the vote.
Charlotte will seek to purchase land to connect parks and preserves already in existence and set aside property that filters water before it reaches the harbor, said Julie Morris, a county environmental specialist.
The conservation tax is expected to provide Charlotte with $77 million for land acquisition, and the county hopes to double or triple its land-buying power with grants, she said.
"We want to have functional ecological systems and connectivity. That's a huge thing," Morris said.
Lands already set aside for conservation in Charlotte include the Fred C. Babcock/Cecil M. Webb Preserve and Babcock Ranch. Together, they encompass more than 100,000 acres of contiguous conservation land in the eastern part of the county.
Another 40,000 acres stretch along Charlotte Harbor as the Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park in the western part of the county.
The county also will prioritize purchases based on the types of wildlife supported by a piece of property, Morris said.
There's no hard and fast rule to guide counties on how much land to conserve, said Gary Knight, director of the Florida Natural Areas Inventory.
"One important consideration is that not all parts of the state have equal conservation values," Knight said. "Some counties might have more important resources."
In Collier, Big Cypress National Preserve eats up about half of the county's land mass.
Knight also pointed to Monroe County, where Everglades National Park takes up 90 percent of the land mass.
Out of 67 counties in the state, 10 have more land in conservation, percentage-wise, than Charlotte.
Regionally, 25 percent of Sarasota, 16 percent of Lee and 11 percent of Manatee are in conservation
Suit tries to block horse shows' move
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
WELLINGTON — A Wellington developer on Monday asked a judge to stop producers of the National Horse Show and Winter Equestrian Festival from shopping around for a new location.
In a lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County court, attorneys for Mark Bellissimo said an August 2005 agreement prohibits Stadium Jumping Inc. from moving the horse shows from Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club for the next three decades.
"An agreement's an agreement," said Daniel S. Rosenbaum, a lawyer representing Bellissimo.
Rosenbaum said he is not sure when the matter will go before a judge. Representatives from Stadium Jumping said they had not seen the suit and couldn't comment.
But it appears Stadium Jumping was serious about threats to move.
Dennis Eshleman, Palm Beach County's parks and recreation director, said Stadium Jumping contacted him about using the 111-acre Jim Brandon Equestrian Center on Forest Hill Boulevard across from Okeeheelee Park.
Eshleman told them the park was too small for Stadium Jumping's needs.
Bellissimo has an option to buy Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club, where the National Horse Show and Winter Equestrian Festival are held, from Palm Beach Polo Holdings. He said he intends to close on the property within 90 days.
Stadium Jumping has a lease with Palm Beach Polo that expires at the end of the equestrian season in 2008. Stadium Jumping rejected a lease agreement with Bellissimo last week and said it would begin searching for a new horse show location in Florida.
The announcement shook the local equestrian community right at the beginning of Wellington's equestrian season.
Margie Engle, a top-ranked rider and local favorite, said she sank all of her savings into a farm near the show grounds with hopes that the shows would be there for years.
"I hope they can work it out," she said last week.
Bellissimo, meanwhile, published his version of events on an equestrian bulletin board on the Internet.
"While we are protecting our investment, as Wellington residents, we need to protect all members of our community that are negatively affected by this cavalier disregard for contract law," he wrote.
Bryan Keller, an attorney for Stadium Jumping, said last week that Bellissimo's lease was "overreaching and impossible to perform."
The president of Stadium Jumping, Eugene Mische, said Bellissimo sold off 20 acres on the show grounds, making it too small to host thousands of horses here.
But the lease offers Stadium Jumping 90 to 100 acres of land. Stadium Jumping said it needs 100 acres to run a horse show.
Bellissimo said in his statement that Stadium Jumping wanted him to buy the show grounds for $21 million and put it in a trust for Stadium Jumping's control. He said he was willing to negotiate.
Moving the horse shows would kill Bellissimo's plan to build a 500-acre equestrian center with 350 homes and 255,000 square feet of commercial space.
Bellissimo and Mische began the year as partners, appearing at meetings to tout The Palm Beach International Equestrian Center as the "largest equestrian center in the world."
Mische said last week that he ended the partnership because his focus is on a world-class horse show, and Bellissimo's focus is on real estate and development.
Vote paves way for concrete plant in Alachua
ALACHUA — This small city northwest of Gainesville may be the site of a new concrete batch plant after city commissioners on Monday voted to approve a rezoning and land-use change that would allow one just off U.S. 441.In the first of two votes, the City Commission voted unanimously to approve a zoning change and land-use change from Alachua County agriculture to city of Alachua industrial that would let Alachua Partners, LLC build a concrete batch plant on a 10-acre lot just north of U.S. 441. The company would still have to seek site-plan approval and a special exception in order to build a concrete batch plant on the site.
The proposal to build the plant is a scaled-back version of the one presented to the Planning and Zoning Board early this year.
Several residents who spoke at the meeting at Alachua Elementary School expressed concerns about the plant's impact on the city's roads. The plant would add roughly 327 trips per day to U.S. 441, said City Planner Kelly Huard.
John Tingue, president of the Turkey Creek homeowners association, said residents of the neighborhood worry about how the plant would affect traffic and how runoff from the site would affect nearby waterways.
The city's industrial zoning allows for uses ranging from warehouses to office space, leading some residents and at least one commissioner to ask what would stop the company from building something with a more intense use on the site.
"With this zoning, they could also put a junk yard, a landfill or a recycling center in that area," Commissioner Bonnie Burgess said. "If it is a concrete batch plant, this seems like an ideal place to put it, but I'd like some reassurance about that."
Gerry Dedenbach of Causseaux and Ellington, who represented Alachua Partners, said the company has no intention of building anything but a concrete batch plant.
"We're telling you what we're going to do, and will be sticking by that," Dedenbach said.
Dedenbach said the company chose the location for its proximity to other industrial uses such as Sabine Manufacturing and its distance from downtown and residential areas.
He said the plant would provide concrete for things like foundations and sidewalks throughout the county.
"Should you accept this change, it will produce a facility that is able to respond locally to the city of Alachua with trucks that make much shorter trips than the trucks that drive through Alachua now from Columbia County or from Gainesville," Dedenbach said.
Former Commissioner Tamara Robbins questioned whether the consideration of a rezoning request connected to a particular project was legal.
City Attorney Marion Rush said the city was considering the rezoning and land-use change on Monday, and would review a special exception to allow the plant separately at a later meeting.
The second public hearing is set for Dec. 18.
Neighbors protest plans for subdivision
ANDREW MEACHAMPublished December 5, 2006
LITHIA -Neighbors of the proposed Lake Hutto subdivision protested Monday in front of the County Center, anticipating that the County Commission will consider a developer's zoning request tonight.
As a Development of Regional Impact, Lake Hutto, a Pulte Homes project, needs the approval of more than a dozen local and state agencies for up to 3,200 homes and 360,000 square feet of commercial space south of the Alafia River and west of Lithia-Pinecrest Road.
The developer is seeking planned development zoning for Lake Hutto's 1,100 acres and a change in the county's Comprehensive Plan, doubling the density in a part of the project from two to four units an acre.
The County Commission meeting on Lake Hutto starts at 6 tonight at the County Center, 601 E Kennedy Blvd.
Barricade at development
could split council
BY J.D. GALLOP
FLORIDA TODAY
A City Council member will introduce a measure tonight to remove a barricade along Hollingsworth Road that triggered spats among neighbors.
Bill Mettrick plans to introduce his motion at the regular 7:30 p.m. meeting tonight at City Hall on Minton Road. It is one of several items on the agenda.
"I don't think the city should be in the barricade business. This is something that has pitched neighbor against neighbor," Mettrick said Monday. "So I'm going to motion to have it removed, but I don't know if I'll have enough votes."
The barricade was put in after numerous citizen complaints as a way to stop the heavy flow of traffic from Florida Avenue -- which dead-ends -- into the newly built Oak Grove subdivision. Some residents were concerned about motorists cutting through the area to get to Hollywood Boulevard, a heavily traveled connector to Palm Bay and Melbourne.
"We did some patrols in that area," said Cmdr. Steve Wilkinson, spokesman for the West Melbourne Police Department. "The traffic volume in that area was very high."
In unrelated matters, council members also will discuss the city's noise ordinance, creating a board of adjustment and a request from the mayor to allow city workers to take Christmas Eve off.
Contact Gallop at 409-1422 or jdgallop@flatoday.net.
Wiregrass Ranch Has Planners' OK
Published: Dec 5, 2006
WESLEY CHAPEL - After five tries, Wiregrass Ranch appears poised to win final development approval from the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, clearing the way for final county approval this month.
Regional planners have endorsed plans to convert the Porter family's 5,100-acre homestead in south central Pasco into a mini-city with 13,500 homes and upward of 30,000 residents. The council's voting membership - made up of elected officials from across the Tampa Bay area and state appointees - will take up the proposal Dec. 11 in Pinellas Park.
Pasco County commissioners will vote on the proposal Dec. 19 in New Port Richey.
The regional approval applies to development through 2016. Wiregrass' fourth phase, ending in 2020, must undergo another round of review for transportation, housing and other issues when the time comes.
Wiregrass Ranch's developers won over regional planners after committing to set aside just under $2.9 million for affordable housing during the project's 14-year lifespan.
Pasco County will hold the funds in escrow, doling them out to subsidize home purchases for low- and moderate-income people, said George Romagnoli, director of the county's Community Development Division.
"New development causes a need for affordable housing, and very few of these developments provide any housing for low-income populations," Romagnoli said. "Something needs to be done to mitigate that."
So far, the bulk of the county's housing subsidies have gone to residents in west Pasco and east Pasco. With millions of square feet of retail and office projects slated for central Pasco, it is important to provide living space for future service-sector workers close to their jobs, Romagnoli said.
"The hope is that we can help people in the middle of the county," Romagnoli said. "Subsidy is the key."
Affordable Housing In The Plans
Regional planners added affordable housing to Wiregrass' development plans out of concern the project will be priced beyond the reach of teachers, firefighters and other low- to moderate-wage earners.
Pulte Home Corp. has plans for a high-end, seniors-only enclave in Wiregrass and two other neighborhoods with potentially high price tags. The builder also has plans for more conventional neighborhoods in Wiregrass' later years.
Pulte has begun construction on its DiVosta neighborhood, along with the western extension of Chancey Road, just east of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard north of State Road 56. Pulte still is waiting for the county to approve its plans for extending S.R. 56 eastward from Bruce B. Downs.
The pending Wiregrass Ranch approval could mean a late-spring 2008 opening for Shops at Wiregrass, the 800,000-square-foot retail complex now represented by a stand-alone JCPenney store at S.R. 56 and Bruce B. Downs.
The JCPenney will anchor the southwest corner of the future plaza.
Delays Force Project Past Deadline
The Goodman Co. and Forest City Enterprises, the two companies building Shops at Wiregrass, had hoped to open their plaza by next fall. The deadline slipped away this summer as the overall Wiregrass project got bogged down in regional transportation issues.
"You don't want to see delays happen, but you can also respect the size of the project," said Jim Richardson, vice president for Cleveland-based Forest City.
Shops at Wiregrass got its development permit from the Southwest Florida Water Management District on Nov. 20, but there are no plans to continue construction of the plaza until spring, Richardson said.
A 2008 opening will likely put Shops at Wiregrass a half-year or more behind its chief rival, The Grove at Wesley Chapel, under development on Oakley Boulevard.
Shops at Wiregrass remains well ahead of its other retail rival, Cypress Creek Town Center, which is waiting out a March hearing to determine whether its location at S.R. 56 and Interstate 75 is appropriate for a regional mall complex.
Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or
WIREGRASS RANCH BY THE NUMBERS
5,100: Total acres of Wiregrass Ranch
8,500: Total single-family homes
5,000: Total multifamily homes
3.2 million: Total square feet, retail
2 million: Total square feet, office
35,000: Estimated number of Wiregrass residents
3.2 million: Estimated water use by 2016, in gallons daily
3,658: Estimated tons of garbage produced daily by 2020
13,531: Estimated number of jobs created by 2020
243 million: Estimated property taxes paid by 2016
Source: Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council
Peril building in cranes' habitat
MEG LAUGHLINFour sandhill cranes have been found tortured in a Pasco subdivision as houses sprout.
Published December 5, 2006
WESLEY CHAPEL - Some of the construction supervisors at the new subdivision say it may have been a bobcat. Others say it could've been an alligator. But the wildlife rescuer who brought the sandhill crane with the hacked-off legs to the emergency veterinary service said it was "obviously malicious."
The vet who euthanized the suffering bird two weeks ago said the same thing: "Human cruelty." Because of the way the legs appeared chopped off. Because of similar incidents in the same area.
Last year, a sandhill crane had an electrical cord wrapped so tightly around its neck it couldn't swallow. Another had a nail embedded in its skull. And yet another had a bullet hole in the tip of its 3-foot wing.
"What's happening to these beautiful birds is very upsetting," said veterinarian Michele Lentovich, who put the latest dead crane on ice for evidence. But so far, Florida Wildlife Commission investigator Dan Parisoe said, "We have no clues."
All four birds were found near construction sites at Meadow Pointe III and IV, part of a sprawling subdivision of thousands of single-family homes and townhouses in central Pasco County.
On any given day, these 4-foot-tall birds dip their red-capped crowns to the earth to rummage for bugs in this 1,000-year-old habitat, among the sky-blue portable toilets, flags for model homes and loaded trash bins.
Lentovich says they are "perplexed and clueless" over what it takes to survive. The dozens that are there have become "too habituated to human beings" in Meadow Pointe, she says, and this familiarity is not breeding healthy, wild sandhills, but controversy - and sometimes cruelty.
"I love watching these birds, but some people here don't want them around," said Mark Glassman, an elected member of the Meadow Pointe II Community Development District.
Glassman tells of seeing the birds peck at car mirrors and French doors when they see their reflection.
Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, says his agency gets complaints about the birds from the Meadow Pointe area, as well as reports when they have been tortured. He doesn't want to see the birds hurt, he says, but they need to back off.
He advises residents of Meadow Pointe to cover windows and screens with nonreflective material and make perimeter fences with tomato stakes and clear fishing line at crane-neck level.
Morse said his agency "tried a top secret method of behavior modification" to get the cranes away from the houses and construction, but it was only mildly successful.
"But don't try compassion, because they don't understand it," said Morse, who describes himself as a bird watcher and a bird hunter.
The problem, says wildlife commission biologist Nancy Douglass, is where the birds will go if they leave: "We've invaded them. They haven't invaded us," she said. "The pine wilderness and prairie that is now Meadow Pointe was a crane habitat for thousands of years before."
They nest in neighborhoods called Deer Run, Grasslands and Sleepy Oak, near $250,000 homes with vaulted ceilings and inlaid tile.
They eat bread thrown out by construction workers and wild bird seed put out by residents. They watch workers carry in the granite for the kitchen counters and frise carpeting for the living rooms.
At night, they sleep in tall grass around a few neighborhood ponds. They group in families of three and four - the parents mating for life and keeping the young close for several years.
"You can walk right up to them," said construction manager David Dunne, who studies the birds and calls them a wonderful asset.
But another construction manager, who asked not to be named, calls them dangerous and tells a cautionary tale, making the rounds among Meadow Pointe workers.
A few years ago a sandhill crane at Innisbrook golf course near Palm Harbor used its beak to stab a golfer in the chest "like the stingray tail in Australia," she said.
"Unfair to the cranes. Never happened," said Innisbrook golf pro Brant McGivern, who has been there for 12 years. "We only have a few cranes here, but everybody seems to get along with them."
Five years ago, the first case of crane abuse was reported to the state wildlife commission. Several miles from Meadow Pointe at Hunter Run, a sandhill crane was shot in the leg with a nail gun.
Wildlife abuse investigator Dennis Parker, who has since retired from the agency, was put on the case.
Parker, who describes himself as a bird lover, matched the nail with a make of nail gun, then questioned construction workers until he found a witness, got a confession and made an arrest.
"The secret weapon was the $1,000 reward the agency offered to loosen lips," he said. "If they're serious, they need to do this again."
"But," said investigator Parisoe, "the agency focus is currently on other things besides injured sandhill cranes."
Meanwhile, hundreds of homes and townhouses are under construction in Meadow Pointe, as the cranes stand docilely by, watching.
Meg Laughlin can be contacted at mlaughlin@sptimes.com or 727893-8068.
Frank Batey paints a pretty picture of what he loves about cattle ranching: sitting on his steed in the summer, watching cows and their calves munch on the green grass.
But the job is often much tougher. He spent Wednesday morning corralling an ailing cow with a retained placenta, which would later need to be pulled from the animal.
The job is "definitely interesting. It keeps you thinking," said the 60-year-old Archer resident.
Batey this week will take part in the Great Florida Cattle Drive near Kissimmee. The event is like the movie "City Slickers" on steroids: hundreds of ranchers and less experienced folks riding horses and wagons on a 50-mile cattle drive over four days.
Alachua County residents participating include Chris Machen, wife of University of Florida President Bernie Machen. She went on cattle drives and other horse-riding trips when her husband worked at the University of Utah, and said she couldn't pass up the chance to experience Florida's version.
"This is such an adventure," she said.
The inaugural Great Florida Cattle Drive was held in 1995, so organizers missed holding the sequel on the 10th anniversary. The event recreates the cattle drives typical in Florida before the fence law of the 1940s, said Larry Ellis, an organizer.
"We're trying to preserve the cow culture of Florida," he said.
While the law requiring the fencing of livestock ended cattle drives, more recent developments threaten the viability of cattle ranching as an industry. Rising prices for land, feed and fuel make turning a big profit difficult. Ranchers' fortunes are also tied to fickle American eating habits and the whims of Mother Nature.
"Your luxury is land, not money," said Linda Ballantine Brown, whose family has a farm in Williston and a larger ranch near Kissimmee.
She's bringing her six children -- three girls and three boys, ages 13 to 26 -- to the cattle drive. She wants to give them an appreciation for their heritage and the teamwork required to do the work.
"You had to get together to help each other," she said.
While cattle culture is generally associated with the American West, cattle were first introduced in the U.S. in Florida in 1521. Today, Florida ranks 12th in the nation in the number of beef cows, according to the state Agriculture Department.
"There's a lot of heritage here, but on the other side of that it's big business," said Bo Hobby, a Williston rancher and first vice president of the Florida Cattlemen's Association.
Florida ranchers typically raise calves that are shipped out west to be bulked up and slaughtered, he said. Hobby works with Batey, and both look the part of cowboys: ten gallon hats, dirty jeans and boots with spurs.
They prefer the term cow hunter, reflecting the difficulty of finding cattle in Florida's dense vegetation. Being a cow hunter also means being a farmer who grows grass to feed the cows, and a doctor who tends to their medical problems.
On Wednesday, Batey and Hobby struggled to get the sick cow to the hospital barn in a way that didn't put any more stress on the animal. Hobby said animal-rights advocates often get indignant about the profession, but most ranchers treat their animals well.
"The real cattlemen are very humane because that's your bread and butter," he said.
Batey said the profession requires patience above all other virtues. It's not for everybody, as shown by the fact that there are expected to be hundreds less participants in this year's cattle drive than the 1995 version.
"The first ride kind of weeded out the wannabes," he said.
| Great Florida Cattle Drive |
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Nathan Crabbe can be reached at 338-3176 or crabben@gvillesun.com.
Gulf of Mexico yields a wealth of undersea animals Long-legged sea spiders, hat-wearing crabs and rare sponge-eating slugs are a few of the critters collected by a University of Florida research team off the coast of Tampa last week.The team of about thirty invertebrate zoology students and professors broke into three groups, each of which ventured out about 80 nautical miles into the Gulf of Mexico to catch bottom-dwelling invertebrates. Two groups stayed out overnight, while the last spent two nights at sea on the Bellows, a 70-foot vessel lent to UF by the Florida Institute of Oceanography.
The animals, which also included octopi, sea urchins, snails and corals, will be used for teaching and research purposes in classrooms and at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
"Students just love seeing an octopus," said the museum's marine collector, Ben Olaivar. "That always gets them yelling and dancing, especially when one crawls out of a snail shell."
Olaivar said the specimens were collected using dredges and 30-foot-wide nets called otter trawls. He said using both gives a good variety of large and small animals.
Robert Lasley, a senior from Dallas, said catching the animals was fun because he's used to dealing with preserved specimens in the classroom.
"It was awesome to see really strange animals like sea spiders and decorator crabs alive," Lasley said. Decorator crabs, which live in rocky habitats, adapt to their environment by attaching pebbles and sponges to their shells for camoflage. And pycnogonids, the species of sea spiders the group found, have tiny abdomens with long, clawed legs and eat soft-bodied invertebrates.
Lasley said the each group kept about 30 animals to be brought back to the museum for identification and labelling.
Gustav Paulay, who is in charge of the museum's invertebrate collection, said he and others at the museum are working to create a large photo database of invertebrates, which will be made available to reseachers from other schools and organizations.
"The purpose of the trip is not only to teach students about oceanographic sampling, but to build the collection of marine invertebrates," said Paulay, who supervised students on the first of the three trips. "Researchers from other places ask to use our collection for their studies."
During a similar trip two years ago, Paulay said, his group discovered a new species of sea cucumber, as well as a ridge of rodoliths off the coast of St. Petersburg. Rodoliths, he said, are "rolling stones of algae," which form when waves turn pebbles over repeatedly, giving organisms a chance to grow on all sides.
"You can't predict what you're going to find out there," said Paulay, who is also an adjunct professor of zoology at UF. "We have a good knowledge of the fauna in the Gulf already, so when we find something weird, it's pretty exciting."
Machel Malay, a graduate student from the Phillipines who led the second trip, said she was surprised to see coral barnacles come up in the dredge.
"I was amazed to see them this far north, because the coral reefs here in the semitropics are much different from the tropical ones around the Phillipines," said 28-year-old Malay, who is writing her dissertation about the diversity and genetics of coral barnacles.
Malay said the most impressive thing about the sampling was the sheer abundance of animals the nets brought up.
"If you run the trawl down there for only 15 minutes, you bring up so many animals that it's absolutely amazing," Malay said. "And the students are always excited to see all the animals just flopping around instead of preserved in jars."
County rejects duplexes on Siesta
The county has for years allowed landowners to build duplexes on multifamily-zoned lots that aren't big enough for duplexes by today's zoning. But the commission ruled Monday that the county has been misinterpreting a four-decades-old zoning law.
The commission's decision will likely trigger lawsuits from landowners who intended to build duplexes as income properties and retirement homes.
Exactly how many property owners are affected is a subject of debate. Some landowners and county staff believe duplexes could have been built on as few as 48 undersized lots. Some Siesta Key Association members, who led a charge to stop duplexes, believe the number of lots is in the hundreds.
Lawyer Michael Furen, who represents property owners, warned the commission's decision could be "improper and frankly unlawful."
But Siesta Key Association director Lourdes Ramirez said the ruling will spare Siesta Key residents from increased traffic and overburdened infrastructure.
"It's good not to allow that precedent for future development to overwhelm Siesta Key," Ramirez said.
County Commissioner Joe Barbetta said any law in favor of small-lot duplexes would have been "codifying a mistake." The commission's decision was unanimous, but several commissioners voiced misgivings about locking out duplexes.
Shannon Staub charged some Siesta Key residents with using scare tactics, such as circulating a false rumor that the island's density could double, to drum up opposition to duplexes.
Staub also cautioned residents against blaming county staff for misinterpreting the law. Many residents criticized staff over the course of several heated public meetings.
"We need to be very clear about where blame is laid. And it could be laid on every County Commission back to 1960," Staub said.
Ryland Pulls Property Off Market
Published: Dec 5, 2006
NEW PORT RICHEY - It's the city's newest neighborhood: 30 acres of pricey, undeveloped waterfront property in the Gulf Harbors area.
The land, off Sea Forest Drive, was annexed into the city last year as part of an agreement with Ryland Homes, which had planned to build a gated community with 500 condominiums there.
The development company abandoned plans to build the condo complex earlier this year. Since then, the property has been dormant.
And it's likely to remain that way, at least for the foreseeable future.
Ryland, one of the country's largest home builders, has taken the $12.5 million parcel off the market after failing to find a buyer.
"It's a sign of hard times," said Bill "Dirt Dog" Eshenbaugh, the Tampa-based broker who was marketing the property for Ryland.
Eshenbaugh said Ryland had hoped to sell the property by the end of December but generated only limited interest from potential buyers.
"Most of the big home builders are working to get these properties off their books, but the market is really tough right now," he said.
A representative for Ryland Homes in Tampa declined to comment.
Last year, the company approached city officials with a plan to construct six nine-story buildings with parking, a fitness center, a library, a post office and swimming pools on the site.
New Port Richey officials were excited at the prospect of expanding the property tax base with an upscale development, and Ryland was eager for access to municipal systems and better fire and police protection.
After approving the annexation, the city council agreed to rezone the property from a multifamily designation to a planned development district and approved preliminary site plans for the gated complex.
The proposed development was even given a name: Venetian Isles.
Several months later, Ryland turned around and put the land on the market for nearly $10 million more than it had paid for it, leaving the future of the much-anticipated condo project uncertain.
The demise of Venetian Isles came as bad news for the city, which has been trying for years to build its general fund reserves from new development and annexations of pockets of adjacent county land.
Revenue generated by new growth pays for services such as police and fire coverage and keeps the property tax rate from increasing.
The Ryland project had promised to add 1,000 new residents to the city while pumping much-needed tax money into municipal coffers.
It was one of several mid- rise housing complexes that developers hoped would soar one day into the Pasco skyline west of U.S. 19.
But a sluggish housing market and high costs for construction materials have forced developers to delay or abandon many projects.
Ryland is planning another midrise on nearly 100 acres in the Holiday area. The development group plans to build 350 condos in seven towers on the seaside property off Baillie's Bluff Road. Information was not available on the status of that project.
Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (727) 815-1082.